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CM . . . . Volume XXI Number 38 . . . . June 5, 2015
A search for the perfect show-and-tell item takes Rosie and her dog Rolland on a wild adventure through a tunnel, up to a breathtaking mountain viewpoint and through crocodile-infested waters to make an amazing discovery.
Mean Freddy pops up again. He has followed Rosie and pulled up the vine rope she used to climb down into the cavern. He offers the old ploy of helping her out if she throws up the orb first. Of course, he doesn't fulfill his promise and scampers off with the golden orb. Luckily there is another exit to the outside, and just as luckily Grandpa shows up in his hot air balloon.
The story is told in a straightforward narrative in a very literate style. The pictures are full of action, although the draughtsmanship is lacking in finesse, and many of the human figures are awkwardly-rendered. There is nothing to pick apart in this book except its lack of originality. I just could not get very excited about a picturebook version of an exploit right out of Indiana Jones. The book would probably be most useful as story for older children reading below their grade level, although the format is a strike against it in that context. Jon Berg is an illustrator and comic book fan who lives in Toronto. Rosie and Rolland and the Legendary Show-and-Tell is his first book. Recommended with Reservations. Ellen Heaney is a retired children's librarian living in Coquitlam, BC. Copyright © the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.
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Table of Contents for This Issue
- June 5, 2015. |
The taunting of the classroom bully impels Rosie to want to bring something really special for her fellow students. She follows a map found in her grandfather's study to a pyramid in the jungle.
A golden glow leads the two explorers down into a cave which turns out to be presided over by a monkey king statue holding an orb the shines like the sun. This is a real treasure and something wonderful to share back at school.
On Show-and-Tell Day, Rosie is reduced to bringing her Grandpa's old hat and the photograph of him on a camel which inspired her search in the first place. Readers will be happy to find out that the old playground saw "Cheaters never prosper" holds true here, for, in Freddy's hands, the wonderful treasure is only a piece of rock. Because he cannot show it off, he discards it in the playground. Rosie and Rolland are left to enjoy it and its glow in the quiet of the girls' bedroom while thinking of what other adventures might be to come.