Who Doesn’t Love A Little Adventure?
Publisher’s Synopsis:
An adventurous sheep tries to take a walk on the wild side and encounters more than she expected.
My thanks to #PeachtreePublishing and #NetGalley for an ARC so that I could write an early review of this book.
Lana Lynn is an intrepid sheep. The other members of her flock are content to nibble grass in the pasture, sip water from the pond, and nap in the meadow. But not Lana Lynn. She wants… adventure!
So one night, when the moon is high and the other sheep are asleep, she finds a disguise and dashes into the wild woods to see what life is like as a wolf. It’s fun to run through the wild woods, stay up very late, and howl at the Moon—but is life with the wolf pack everything it seems?
Rebecca Van Slyke’s charming depiction of experiencing new things is accented by Anca Sandu’s humorous illustrations.
Description
- Author: Rebecca Van Slyke
- Illustrator: Anca Sandu
- Publisher: Peachtree Publishing Company (September 1, 2019)
- Genre: Picture Book
- Book Excerpt
- Hardcover: 32 pages
My Thoughts
Lana Lynn is a sheep who doesn’t fully enjoy doing sheep things, which confuses the others. After all, why wouldn’t a sheep want to act like a sheep? Why would she want to run through the wild woods, stay up late, and howl at the moon?
But Lana does, so one evening the adventurous sheep disguises herself and heads out to enjoy the wild woods by herself. While wearing her disguise a pack of wolves mistake her for one of their own and she begins to run and play with them.
However, dinner with the wolves proves to be a little too much for Lana Lynn. The meal consists of squirrel, rabbit, and sheep. Oh, oh. For some reason that doesn’t appeal to Lana’s taste buds. In fact, it brings her back to reality in a split second. She is not a wolf. She is a sheep!
But what will she do?
Concerns
These are small concerns, but things I noted and thought were worth mentioning.
- While I am all for adding new vocabulary words to picture books, I was surprised to see the word intrepid in the first sentence.
- When Lana Lynn went home to eat with the wolves I wondered how tender-hearted children would react to seeing illustrations showing a large-eyed squirrel and rabbit sitting under tipped lid covers.
- The story felt somewhat unfinished and even unclear. For me, it didn’t have a uniqueness to cause it to stand out from similar books.
My Conclusion
Well, like the word intrepid, which caught my attention quickly, this too caught my attention. Lana Lynn likes to stay up late. But what is she doing? Reading! How can you not like that?
I also like that there is a phrase repeated several times throughout the story that children are sure to enjoy.
Use your own discretion with this one. I thought it was just okay.
About The Author:
Rebecca Van Slyke studied marine biology at Olympic Community College, received a teaching degree from Western Washington University, and got an MFA in writing for children from Vermont College of Fine Arts. The author of several books for young readers, she teaches second grade. You can visit her website here.
