Puffy and the Formidable Foe by Marie Lepkowski, Ann Hannon and Margaret Hannon, is an illustrated children’s book about a kitten, named Puffy, that strays too far from home and meets his “formidable foe.” Upon returning home, Puffy gets a bath with the “yucky” shampoo. Puffy doesn’t enjoy the bath, but he learned not to travel too far from home and not to talk to strangers. The illustrations of the book are colorful and look as if a child had drawn and colored the pictures. I like the idea of child-like pictures for a children’s book. I know that the illustrations don’t look professional, but I think that will go a long way in holding the attention span of a child. Each page looks as if the child could draw it themselves. This would encourage …show more content…
While reading this book, I kept thinking of an advanced version of Dr. Seuss. For the most part, the story has short simple sentences. However, the author does use a few bigger words (such as obscene and formidable) that will allow you the opportunity to grow your child’s vocabulary. The thing about this book that surprised me the most is the page at the beginning that listed all the things that parents could discuss with their children. I couldn’t think of another children’s book that had inserted a teaching guide like that. I’m sure some parents are like me, just read the book as a bedtime story. This teaching guide at the front will help remind parents that there are morals and lessons to be taught with these types of stories and that they are not just another bedtime story. There are many lessons that could be taught as your reading the story to your child. For example, you could point out that Puffy shouldn’t have traveled that far away from the house without adult supervision. You could also teach them how important it is to only talk to people that they know. If Puffy hadn’t talked to the stranger, he wouldn’t have had to take a bath with the “yucky” shampoo. On top of the lessons that keep your child safe, you could also point out how important it is to take care of your