Thursday, October 14, 2021

#Review: Otis and the Scarecrow by Loren Long #picture books


 

My review:

Otis is a sweet old tractor that seemingly gets along with everyone. He plays games with the farm animals when all is quiet on the farm. They all like the game "silence" to see who can be silent the longest. Otis always wins.

However, one day a scarecrow shows up out in the pumpkin patch. He never talks to anyone and is always got a mean face and just stares. Everybody leaves him alone.

Nobody seems to like him until Otis decides to befriend him with the same game he plays with the animals. Hmm...I wonder who wins this time?

As picture books go, this one is illustrated wonderfully. The Fall colors of oranges. yellows, reds and browns are prevalent throughout. The pictures are bold and the reader can certainly insert themselves on a pumpkin farm.

Like many picture books though, the sentences are repetitive. This may throw off an older reading child as this is targeted for reading ages 3-7 but is clearly for preschoolers up to 4-5. The story is not overly as wonderful as the illustrations are but I think young kids would love it. 

I would love to see the story expanded a bit maybe even by some magic of Fall the scarecrow comes alive and befriends them all.  

For the reasons I stated above, I give this book three pumpkins.

Disclosure: I purchased a copy of this book for my own collections. The view expressed here are 100% my own and may differ from yours.  ~Michelle

About the author:

Loren Long

I grew up in Lexington, Kentucky in the 1970’s. We had no artists of any kind in the family. We didn’t know any artists. I liked sports, especially baseball. My mother read to me a lot. But I have to admit, my favorite subject in school was gym class. I also liked to draw. My parents encouraged me to keep drawing.


No comments: