Review: Mary Wasn't Scary, she was SCARED.
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 05 16, 2013
This children's storybook about overcoming fears has potential, but has one major flaw: the author's misuse of the adjective "scary." Mary wasn't scary, as the tale suggested... she was SCARED. The object --not the subject-- of fright is scary. Mary was afraid of Bill, so Bill is the one who was scary. This flaw alone makes this book unfit to be read to children, for it incorrectly teaches them the meaning of the main adjective of the story. If the story wasn't written in rhyme, it may have been an easy fix, but this one's going to take some creativity. Maybe change Bill's name to Harry? Then Harry could be scary.I was put off by a few of the rhymes that were imperfect, but that's my own personal foible so I don't hold it too severely against this review. It did bother me a little more, though, when the author chose to rhyme one word with itself. But again, these are questions of stylistic taste, rather than those of accuracy... semantics rather than mechanics.The illustrations are excellent and the premise is good, but we return to my initial complaint to note that several other words throughout the book (in addition to "scary") are used inconsistently with their definition. The author really needs to brush up on his English and then revise this book. Then maybe I could give it the 5-star rating it deserves.