A Voice for Independent Authors

“You can kill a book quicker by your silence than by a bad review.”
― E.A. Bucchianeri

REVIEWING TODAY: FIVE BUMBLY BUDDIES – LENNY’S SNEEZE BY CAMP COOKIE CHRIS (CHRIS HAMMOND)

Five Bumbly Buddies (Lenny’s Sneeze) by Camp Cookie Chris (Chris Hammond) is, of course, a children’s book. But children come non-standardized, meaning for the purpose of this review that a child’s age – even his half-ages – largely determine what might classify as a really good children’s book for him or her. This book is attributably targeted to children under the age of 7. That is great targeting, with the bulls-eyes probably at 5, for in such tender hands Five Bumbly Buddies does everything it can to please the young reader (or listener), and it thoroughly succeeds in doing so. Even the adult reader may not be able to suppress his smiles. A bumblebee with pollen allergies? Prescribed five drops of honey as an evidently and demonstrably ineffectual cure? That’s got to grab the young reader’s interest!

Children’s books have several tasks they must accomplish well: a great storyline, an interesting but accessible (often rhythmical) narrative style, and – perhaps most necessary – thoroughly engaging, complementary illustrations. Five Bumbly Buddies (Lenny’s Sneeze) by Camp Cookie Chris succeeds at each, but it is absolutely masterful with its illustrations (which are what most provoke those spontaneous smiles in the adult eavesdropper.) The idea of a cowboy bee is amusing. Using short rhymes to tell his story is decidedly cute. But to actually see a cowboy bee in full regalia is nothing short of marvelous. Especially when all these buddy bees are so creatively imagined in the first place. If you don’t laugh at these caricatures of our beloved honeyed friends, you have no funny bone. Leave it to the children to appreciate. I assure you – they will.

*Disclaimer: this review is based on the product provided to me for the purpose. The product offered now on Amazon is not the same. While more polished, the newer product does not retain the same illustrations referenced in my review.