Rixkin
ISBN: 978-0984206902
Published May 18, 2010
Hardcover, 32 pages
Life of Shouty is a series that focuses on personal issues. In Good Habits, Shouty Mack's life is not going well because he is not focused and doesn't practice good habits like planning and prioritizing. The book is written in rhyme with simple illustrations.
This book was not what my kids and I expected though, probably because it focused on good habits that were more suited to adults. Apart from good habits that are pretty universal such as flossing and cleaning one's room, the main character Shouty faces bad habits no kid has. That's because Shouty is not a kid. He is a young adult. No reference to school is made, but instead Shouty lazes around and chills out in front of the TV neglecting to mow the lawn, do the laundry, work on his tax returns, renew his license or pay his bills. One of the book lines even refers to the habit of drinking, to which my kids response was, “What's wrong with drinking, Mom?” That's when I had to tell them it seemed the book was referring to excessive alcohol drinking as the bad habit and well.... not water (because that's what my kids drink!). Why would this even be mentioned as a tempting bad habit in a children's book?
Shouty Mack, from which this book is based, was initially a comic strip for a high school newspaper, but the author decided to develop a children's series from it. Unfortunately, a picture book aimed at an audience of 8 and up with adult themes is inappropriate and will not have the right appeal. It would have needed to be modified to suit its audience.
Disclosure: Thanks to Rixpin and Pump Up Your Book Promotions for sending me this book for review. I was not compensated in any other way, nor told how to rate or review this product.
Yeah, not too many kids have the opportunity to plan or prioritize.
ReplyDeleteI thought Shouty was a kid - he's a young adult??
ReplyDeleteOn another note: Laura I have a book that you might like- it's an ARC: Triangles by Ellen Hopkins. It's very different from our usual style but completely worth it for its uniqueness. If you're interested I'll bring it in for you. It's yours so just shoot me an email and I'll bring it in for our meet up on Sat Oct 1 :)