The Boy Who Cried Ninja

Delightfully quirky, and outlandishly fanciful.

There once was a boy named Tim—whose fantastical imagination kept getting him in trouble. Whenever unfortunate things happen, Tim defers blame to an amusing cast of mischievous and unlikely characters. But his family isn’t buying the stories he weaves…

Readers expecting a modern retelling of The Boy Who Cried Wolf may be a touch perplexed by the route the author takes. The ultimate takeaway lesson seems to be more about refraining from bad behavior in general, rather than telling the truth least no one believe you when you truly need them to. But while I as a parent might have preferred a clearer-cut moral to the story, my 6-year-old son ADORED this book from the first read--not only asking for nightly re-reading, but imitating the simplistic art style in his drawing time.

The artwork is whimsical and effective—the cover offering an accurate sampling of what’s to come. The wording is rarely dense, with only one or two sentences per page on average. And there’s an abundance of onomatopoeia that will likely appeal to a wide range of children in this target age audience (3-7).

The book is 32 pages—a relatively thin paperback with a matte and gloss cover finish that may not stand up well to children under the age of 5.