Review: Bad Poetry, Decent Illustrations.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 01 24, 2013
Looking at the cover I was hoping to find a fun and cheery book.  While I acknowledge that the illustrations were bright, colorful, interesting, not to mention nearly full page;  I sometimes felt as if the illustrator had used a toolbar with all of the parts on it, such as the mouths, the flowers, mama's apron and the birds, then mixed and matched those parts and then used the paint tool to change colors.If the only problem was that the illustrations felt like someone played with their art software, I would have given this a 4.  The main issue is with the poetry.For a book like this, targeted to be read to a preschool child, then the poetry should be smooth and consistent.  Reading this out loud was difficult as the lines from verse to verse were of different lengths.  First lines were all 10 syllables (except for the number 7).  Second lines ranged from 9-14 syllables.  The third line was from 10-12 syllables.  The variations kept me from developing a rhythm while reciting.The last issue has to do with formatting.  I viewed this story using my Kindle for PC .  The words in relationship to the page were varied and uneven.  Several times the last line would be on the following page by itself.  I also looked at on the Cloud Reader, this problem isn't there although the first line of 10 is to the right of the illustration instead of below it like all of the other numbers.While I think this could be a decent counting backwards book, with the poetry as is, I can't recommend it.