Practice Makes Perfect
by Michael Portnoy, Adelia Drubetski (Illustrator), Freda Zolty Kovatch (Translator)
Kindle Edition, 26 pg.
Tzameret Books Ltd, 2016
Read: December 16, 2016
Madam Fly’s two sons are musical geniuses, or something like it — because she’s convinced they should put on concerts despite having no experience with playing whatsoever. How hard can it be?
Well, experience and the crickets who run the local music shop try to teach them an important lesson when it comes to music (or just about anything). The question is: will they learn?
Drubetski’s art is eye-grabbing, distinctive, and attractive. I’ve never been good at talking about illustrations, so I won’t try too hard — but I liked it, and think my kids would’ve at the right age, too (they might now, but there’s no way that they’d deign to give an opinion on kids’ books at their ages).
Kovatch scored big here — it’s got to be tough enough to translate someone’s book, especially one for this age group and make it work. Then you add in rhyming? Forget it. I don’t know how she did it, but it couldn’t have been easy.
This is supposed to be for ages 6-8, I can buy 4-6. But I do have a tendency to miss those targets, still — give it a glance before you give it to a 2nd Grader.
Yeah, it’s a bit moralistic and preachy, with an abrupt ending (which just emphasizes the moral). But I think it works for the target audience. I would’ve appreciated some clear evidence of growth on Madam Fly’s part, but . . . who’s kidding who here? It wasn’t that likely.
A fun little book that teaches a lesson too few want to hear. Recommended.
Disclaimer: I was provided a copy of this book by the author in exchange for this post.
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