Review: The magic of sharing
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 10 26, 2013
Aya Rot has found a fine balance between story telling and lesson informing for children. Her book is well illustrated by Petya Ivanova and together these two have created a completely successful children’s book. Aya Rot has served in the capacity of both mother and teacher and has discovered the importance of the gift of storytelling to explain problems and conflicts between children AND how to solve them through the joy of relating instructive stories.Our main character is a little boy who has just received a gift from his mom – a big shiny toy truck with lots of yellow and a little black. He loves his truck and finds all manner of ways to use it in the house and in the garden and even in the driveway. Overjoyed with his new treasure he takes it to school to show his friends and a problem arises when one of his friends, Chuck, wants to play with it. Our little guy refuses to share what is his. That night he decides to not play with his friends anymore, just keep his new truck to himself. But a voice rattles him and he discovers his toy truck is asking him to go for a drive! Off they go and end up in a little town of toys – all types of toys from robots to dolls to balls and blocks – and our little guy plays with them all, sharing everything and having fun. But of course he awakens from his fantasy dream and is sad that he can’t dream that dream every day. Toys were good pals but he misses his friends. One day he hears a call and it is Chick whose mom has just bought him a red car toy. Both boys exchange driving each other’s toys and all the toys of the dream come to life and celebrate. Of course this was a dream, too, and when our little hero awakens he joins all of his people friends and they all share their toys with each other: the actual toys they share are the toys from the dream – and it all ends happily.This is a beautifully illustrated, excellent story with a fine lesson about sharing. If only our main character had a name….Highly recommended. Grady Harp, October 13