James' Reading Rescue - Dianna Wilson-Sirkovsky - ★★★★★

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AUTHOR: Dianna Wilson-Sirkovsky
ILLUSTRATOR: Sara Casilda
GENRE: Children's Picture Book.
PUBLICATION DATE: October 5, 2021
RATING: 5 stars.

Such a cute little story for every book lover and/or animal lover!

James is a struggling reader. To cheer himself up and forget his troubles with reading, he visits the local rescue centre after school and plays with the cats there. However, one particular cat, whom James has named “ghost” remains adamantly aloof. James decides to start reading cat adventures to Ghost so that it might become friendlier and thus increase its chances of getting adopted. In this unselfish and kind gesture, James attains one more thing: his reading improves with every book he reads aloud to Ghost and his struggles with words have vanished.

With a single story, the book effectively addresses two issues: reading and rescued animals. The content is simple and straightforward, and James will surely win everyone’s hearts. There are so many values brought forth by the story: comfort, kindness, helpfulness, perseverance, and selflessness. The idea is easy: if you are kind to others, you too benefit. It also emphasises on how reading can help create connections.

As the story itself involves reading aloud, this would be a great book to read aloud to kids. (And for them to read aloud to their pets and stuffed animals.) The language is very easy and written in simple prose. This will be a great independent reading resource for early readers.

I loved the tidbit about the behaviour of rescued cats right at the start of the book. That helps us understand Ghost’s emotional distance better.

The illustrations are ADORABLE!!!

Heartily recommended to everyone – children, parents, teachers, schools, libraries!

My thanks to Clavis Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC of the book in exchange for an honest review.

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