Matt McAvoy Book Review

This is the second I have read of Heather’s lovely, heartfelt educational books for early-grade kids, after “Tummy Rumble Quake”, and it is part of the same weather-related safety series (which also includes “Elephant Wind”).  Very similar in vein, I did feel that this book was in some ways more accomplished, yet simultaneously lacked the quality of content of the first.  It features the same group of friends and, as before, the same beautifully colourful illustrations, which are fun to look at and bring the book bursting into life.  In this aspect, Heather’s production quality, and that of her illustrator, has improved markedly – I would love to see the reaction showing this book to my kids.

“Lions, Leopards and Storms…” tackles another severe weather hazard, explaining how children should behave in a storm.  It is familiar ground and the advice she gives is simple and concise – she expresses it wonderfully for children and imparts a very important role on the parents.  You can tell that Heather loves this work and has a lot of fun with it, even making up songs to make it easy for the little ones to remember – she is good at her work, too.  I do like the way she compares the weather’s characteristics to metaphors which the children will remember, such as a lion’s roar and a rumbling tummy; still, I can’t overlook that this book seems to include no mention of a leopard anywhere, except in the title – I did double-check this, just to be sure.

Generally, this is a nice book for kids, with its heart firmly in the right place, which I like about it, and wish Heather well for.  I still feel there is some work to do, particularly in order to justify Amazon’s $16 price tag for the hardback version!  Really, I’m talking about the general polish, which I feel comes up a little short: I’m not keen on the font, and the text layout could be more attractive; also, particularly in a kid’s book, I do feel the punctuation has a responsibility to be flawless.  Still, Heather’s series is a good one, nice to read, and has a great deal of potential.