Trigger warning: pretty intense bullying and a corrupt, abusive father. 

What I'm Currently Reading: So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo

Fun read. Nilly is a stable and well balance boy. He is also very smart and very small.

He takes things like a child, face value and mindful. 

If adult could be more like him. 

Example for him keeping his cool. 

It is silly. When he become the side kick, he do test for the fart powder and its power. And the fart is not stinky but strong enough to lift him up off the ground. 

Yes, it is that kind of a book. 

It has turned into a movie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_uQp6oNIdrU

Lisa and Nilly are fun characters who tried to find their friend Doctor Proctor. 

So they travel by plane, and use the time travelling bath tub to try to locate him. Doctor did leave clues on where he had been and they did try to follow his trial.

But that's not it.

It is the way these children acting like children and find solutions only children could. 

As a fan of Jo Nesbo, one would be curious on what kind of children books he would write. 

He wrote like how he wrote his other books, with a lot of fun plot twists. And running around with clues.

The good thing is, there are a lot of surprises as well. Surprise on what the characters thought as solutions, or the next move. 

First clue, A post card. 

Not to spoil the plot. The post card is illustrated and anyone could try to get the clue. 

Then there are big guys. The big guys are obvious big guys as this is a children book.

They chase the children. And the children run and escape. 

Traveling in bathtub is fun.

Also, the use of fart powder. One of the invention of the Doctor who give a person ability to fart with power. 

Like speeding up a bike ride up the hill. Yes, that's part of the running around bit in the book.

Highly recommended for kids. 

by Andrew Larsen

illustrated by Mike Lowery

age range: 3 to 6 years old

Kids Can Press

The story tells the process a boy goes through to write his own story, the same his sister does. He really wants to write a story, but he is not sure how to do it. He starts with a single letter, and goes on. He also struggles finding a good ending, but he finds his way when he understands he is the author, which means he is "the boss" in the story.

The plot is somehow lacking. I can't point exactly why, but it feels like if the opportunity for a great story has been wasted. That said, I can see that the book will be enjoyed by many other readers, since I'm sure my opinion in this case is totally subjective. I liked the characters, who are essentially the boy and his sister. The illustrations are funny, cartoon like and colorful.

I received this copy from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

3.5 stars. I received this book from Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.

I would have rated this higher, but sorry, this is a doodle your own adventure, and that just doesn’t work if it is an e-ARC. You can’t do anything to participate with the drawings. Using your imagination is fun, but it kind of sucks, I wanted to draw, but couldn’t. I think this book works best as a physical ARC, that way people can enjoy all the aspects of the book, and not just the story or the art.

Because the story was really fun, though I found the duck a bit too annoying and too all-knowing (a character trait I really hate in characters). But at times he was pretty decent, his narration was quite fun.
The adventure, the mission, the enemies? I really liked them and I was laughing, evil slugs? Slugs taking a bath? Slugs having a party?
I also loved the trip to the planet of the slugs, all the stuff that needed to be done before we could leave.

The art was really fitting for this book. It was sketchy/doodley and it just matched with the fact you have to drawn your own adventure (which I couldn’t :().There aren’t that many colours used (Blue/orange/white seem to be the main ones), but I did like that.

But yeah, it is just a shame I couldn’t participate in all the fun. Of course I used my imagination, but I would rather have seen my imagination drawn on the pages.

But all in all, this is a pretty good book, and I love the idea of it. I am sure this is the perfect book for kids who like to draw, but also for kids who might be reluctant readers. This will surely motivate them to read as they can create their own stories.

Review first posted at https://twirlingbookprincess.com/