Synopsis:
Little Ben's Life is written in rollicking rhyme which is sure to capture your attention. In the early years Ben overcomes boredom and life's challenges by using his vivid imagination as a way of escape. While in the later years Ben shares his incredible experience of growing up and living in the Great Pacific Northwest.
My review:
This book is one of those that I have a 50/50 review of. Based on the front cover which is cute, it seems that this would be a picture book that children would like to read and look at. It has potential, although, I never "base a book by its cover" and this book is proof why.
I also do not generally look at the back of a books cover either but this time, I did for some reason, and that is where my reviews begins.
I did not know a few things about this author. First, I was surprised to see he was not Caucasian. (NOTE: It does not matter to me what color, gender, religion,etc you are, I read and review everything.) Based on the cover, this was again surprising because I feel the author missed an opportunity to have a truly multicultural book.
Next, I found out he is multi-lingual. His book is written solely in English, which is great, but he could have gone even further and written in two languages. Look in his bio and see how many languages he actually speaks! Whoa! Yet, another missed opportunity.
The third thing is, the author is a Christian pastor. I was unaware of this fact. Which brings me to his actual writing of the book. The author inserts his obvious Christian views within the book, which again is not an issue for me, however, it would have been good to know this as my mindset would have been different. This also means the book was actually written for children whose family is Christian. This means of course, it is not really meant for a wider variety of readers.
The story itself is written in rhyme. That fact is pretty impressive considering the length of this book. The author seemed to struggle at times to rhyme words but mostly did a good job at it. The story was okay but it was confusing at times, disjointed, and the author wrote A LOT about eating. Maybe it should have been a rhyming cook book? Again, more missed opportunities.
The book was not at all a picture book as I would have assumed based on the cover. In fact, there are few pictures in the book and those are misplaced, the formatting was off and a couple of words I found misspelled. This book is meant for a child who can read fairly well and not meant for younger children. Again, another missed opportunity as this book could have had less words and more pictures that actually matched the cover.
So, overall, did I hate this book? Well, no. As I said above, I was impressed with the rhyming and I do get what the author was trying to do. It is just this is one of those times that I think he was trying too hard. If I was to suggest anything to the author, I would say fix what I have mentioned above and republish the book.
I am going to give the book 3 stars with a caveat because my review says less than (more like 2 stars). This book was just okay if the writing had been completely horrible or the cover bad, it would have not received that.
Disclosure: I received a copy of this book from the author. The views here are 100% my own and may differ from yours.
~Michelle, Reading Authors Network.
Author Bio:
Bernard Bentley was born in Frankfurt, Germany and was raised in the south end of Seattle,
Washington. Bernard is a former model and actor who found a special passion in the world of
creative writing. Telling a fascinating story to an interested audience is a joy that can't be
described. He also writes screenplays, commercial slots, and traditional theatrical plays.
Bernard learned to speak English, Haitian Kreyol, Tagalog and Spanish as a means to relate to
a wider range of people. He has now expanded his language learning to include German and
Vietnamese. Bernard is a black belt level fighter with over 30 years experience. He is also a
born again Christian.
Amazon: https://amzn.to/3zr7ers
Goodreads: https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60436285-little-ben-s-life
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