Review: Two Very Different Stories
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 22, 2014
Written by Bulgarian author Sergey Nikolov, CHILDREN'S STORIES WITH A MORAL is a book that includes two stories aimed at children: THE LEGEND OF THE BLACK SEA and MOMMY.THE LEGEND OF THE BLACK SEA is a folk tale written for children ages 6-10. Once upon a time there was an old fisherman who lived next to the sea. He lived alone in a small cottage with a dog named Boley and a black cat named Serzhina. Boley is a most faithful companion, but Serzhina doesn’t seem to be. Serzhina doesn’t seem to want to do anything without being fed first. Boley is convinced the cat is evil, but the old man keeps telling Boley that one day Serzhina will change and become good. However, a tragedy befalls the fisherman and his pets which tests his faith in the goodness of all things.THE LEGEND OF THE BLACK SEA is an interesting little folk talk. It’s rather short (it only takes about 10 minutes to read out loud) and has some beautiful illustrations. Works well as a story for advanced and intermediate-beginning readers.MOMMY is a much different story than THE LEGEND OF THE BLACK SEA. MOMMY revolves around a princess named Selena and two angels named Pinky & Violet. Selena's mother dies and her father, the king, is let to take care of her alone. He becomes an overprotective parent. Meanwhile, jumping around clouds are two angels named Pinky and Violet. They want another companion to play with, but God warns them to be careful what they wish for and that, "Two are few, but three are one too many." This message is repeated throughout the story, as is the theme of "be careful for what you wish for because you might get it." There's a lot of jumping back and forth between life and the afterlife and MOMMY is in no way a Biblical or Christian story at all.Overall, I found THE LEGEND OF THE BLACK SEA to be an interesting folk tale, but MOMMY was a story far to strange and bizarre. I would read THE LEGEND OF THE BLACK SEA to children, but I would not read MOMMY to them.