Mrs. Morgan Rescues … A Squirrel! / Bonnie Jo Davis

Reviewed by: BigAl with input from The Princess

Genre: Children’s/Short Story

Approximate word count: 3-4,000 words

Availability    

Kindle  US: YES  UK: YES  Nook: NO  Smashwords: NO  Paper: NO

Click on a YES above to go to appropriate page in Amazon, Barnes & Noble, or Smashwords store

Author:

Although her first book was a cookbook, 50 Nifty Holiday Recipes, the majority of Ms Davis’ output is her “Mrs. Morgan Rescues …” series, with five books (actually short stories) plus an omnibus of the first five available. An avid reader and advocate for animals, Ms Davis lives in California with her family and two dogs.

Description:

“Mrs. Morgan Rescues... a Squirrel is the first story in a series created for independent readers ages eight and up. Younger readers may enjoy this book if it is read to them.”

Appraisal:

As with many of the children’s books I review, I started by having my nine year-old granddaughter, The Princess, read the book and give me her take. The book is the first in a series of short stories concerned with animal rescue and when asked her favorite part The Princess said it was “saving the squirrel.”

My take is that this book (and presumably the series) is good in that it shows kids that there are some specific things to be considered when an animal is in apparent trouble, especially a wild animal as in this book, and that there is a need to bring in experts (a veterinarian, here). However, the first of these steps, observing over time to make sure the animal is really in distress and, in the case of a younger animal, that the animal’s parent isn’t able to provide the assistance, led to The Princess’ least favorite part, that the book was “boring at the beginning.” She gave the overall story a letter grade of B, largely based on that slow start.

Format/Typo Issues:

No significant issues, although dialogue is formatted in a way that is non-standard, with all dialogue in italics and without the commas normally used. “He is a cute little fellow” said Dr. Perkins rather than “He is a cute little fellow,” said Dr. Perkins.

Rating: **** Four stars