Born to Read

Ill be honest. I wasnt planning on reviewing this book. I have mixed feelings about it, which may partly be because I was so excited when I saw the cover and the title. I thought it was a great concept (I mean, hey, I love reading). And the first half of the book held onto that promise nicely. I was imagining reading it to my son as he got older.

Then, the book takes a dramatic left turn into fantasy land and kind of lost me. Where the first part was about a boy who was born to read and studied hard and won a bike race because of how good a reader he was, the second part introduced a baby giant that terrorized the town and stole toys. The boy who loved to read saved the day by tricking the baby giant with books.

It felt like two entirely different books mushed together. On the one hand, real-life stuff and problem solving. On the other hand, pure fantasy. So I put it aside and decided not to review it as I dont generally like to review books I am so conflicted over (yeah, yeah, I know, I sure can get worked up over a picture book, right?).

Then a little boy in the neighborhood had a birthday party that we were invited to at the last minute. We were told not to bring a gift, but how do you do that? So I brought Born to Read. And he really, really liked it. And the point at which he began to really like it? When the baby giant appeared and the story made that detour into fairy tale land.

That reminded me that kids do read things differently than adults do. While I was jarred by the sudden shift, he was enraptured by the baby giant. So, while I still have my own personal reservations about this book (couldnt it have been split into two? it could have made a cute series even), Im including this review because Im sure there are kids out there who will love it. And the illustrations by Marc Brown are really darling and wonderfully colorful.