I got contacted in the beginning of the month by an author of children’s books asking me to review his novella (around 60 pages). As I was still in my now famous reading rut, I was far too happy to accept: it felt like the perfect opportunity to read somehting cool (you know my love for children’s literature) while doing something great for an author. Here are my thoughts on this rather short but really beautiful children’s book, enjoy!
Dealing with being “different”
This book offers a lot of important messages in such a short amount of pages: it feels quite incredible to say the least! First, you must know that we follow the story of the young Henry, who is… a goose! Featuring animals is not rare in children’s literature and defiitely allows authors to tackle tougher topics. Henry seems to be a very ugly goose, at least it is what he thinks of him and what people around him tend to make him feel. The first topic thus tackled would have to be self-esteem and the impact of people’s opinion of us on that self-esteem. Moreover, the book touches upon the topic of bullying in the sense that the other geese seem to be too happy to act in a nasty way with our hero.
Love as a problem solver
However, in spite of all the tough topics tackled, the book shows, above all, that there is nothing love can’t solve. I am of course referring not only to the fact of being loved but also (and above all) to the fact of loving someone. When Henry finds a friend, his whole life (or, more accurately, his perception of it) shifts. He becomes aware of the beauty of all the small things creating his everyday life. Thus, this story does not only tackle tough topics but also provides the reader with hope and beauty. Above all, it provides us with love.
As you probably understood, I really liked this book. It was so sweet, but also really touching and deep. It was definitely the kind of book I needed to get out of the reading rut I was unfortunately in. I highly recommend it to those of you who might need a beautiful, yet short read to get back to reading.
Wishing you the best of all days,
The English-speaking Frenchie 