Review: Wise words from a storybook owl
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 07 23, 2013
Carmit Kagan has developed a book that is excellent for many reasons: it has a well illustrated and well written story, it deals with a behavioral problem with children common to all families, and it presents a game (complete with instructions one how to recreate the tools of the game in your own home) to correct those problems. In other words, this is the `compleat' children's book (that just happens to be a terrific boost toward family function!).Johnny is a bright kid who loves to play with his many toys but has a problem with cleaning his room after his playtime is over. His patient mother reads him bedtime stories and Johnny is off to sleep. He awakens seeing monsters in the room and calls for his mother: the monsters are shadows that his toys, left on the messy floor, cast on the wall.  Each time he goes to sleep he awakens to a new monster and each time his mother responds by showing him the source - shadows cast by the toys strewn about on the floor - monsters that disappear when the toy is put back in its proper place on the shelf.Johnny's father devises a game: a dice and a multicolored block that when tossed matches a number to a color and the number of toys with that color must be put away. All three play the fun new game and voila! Johnny's room is clean! The name of father's invented game is GO which stands for Get Organized and has been initiated with a passage form Johnny's favorite bedtime story about an owl's wise thoughts: `Any problems you have, Be they big or small, If you remember to have fun, You can solve them all.Let's hope Carmit Kagan continues this fun, entertaining series of books that teach lessons for good behavior for children in the context of families working together.  An excellent book! Grady Harp, July 13