My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I received this book as a part of the first reads preview program from GoodReads.com. I was interested in it because it hits a popular hot button in ‘the parent wars’ of boys being seen as ‘not masculine’ because they don’t show a lot of machismo or come off as gentle and not rough and tumble. I wanted my daughter (who is rough and tumble) to read it, so that she gets the ‘theme’ introduced to her in a safe way. I had her read the back cover first, and then the book. She had some questions about the words in the book, because one of them was the unfamiliar ‘mummy’ for mommy – she thought mummy was a monster tucking him into bed! Once I answered that for her (as she had run away as soon as she got her hands on it to read it!) she re-read it several times. Even at 5, she got the general idea. Some of the themes were a bit more advanced than that- it includes the word murderer on a grave (this is in the kid’s imagination) which she didn’t fully understand–and I didn’t enlighten her because of her age, I just suggested that it was something silly made up. It’s probably meant for an older child, but she reads well above her age. The illustrations are strange, but beautiful and my daughter loved them. I think any boy or girl would benefit from this wonderful book. I’m sure it will be a hit with anti-bully proponents as well.
Thank you, Jill, for your absolutely delightful words about my book. I just stumbled upon your website during a google search, and you’ve no idea how thrilled I am to see this. Of course, I had read your review on goodreads (and have been wanting to thank you since then), but it’s not the same as seeing it as a glowing review on a website. Many many thanks, most heartfelt one, for taking out time to read and review The Unboy Boy.