Benjamin’s Blue Feet
Author & Illustrator: Sue Macartney
Pajama Press
Ages: 3 to 8 years old
The best little treasure hunting blue-footed booby on the island!
It is truly an amazing feeling to explore and find treasures that bring you great excitement. In this wonderful book, Benjamin, a blue-footed booby, seeks treasures he happens to find on the beach. During his exploration, he comes across a mirror, initially sparking a feeling of great joy and success. After further examining it, he realizes the mirror is not as joyful as he had hoped it would be.
Studying his reflection, he recognizes all the traits that make him different from the other creatures on the beach. Not feeling comfortable with those differences, Benjamin begins to modify his personal imperfections, in hopes of blending in better with his fellow creatures. Though he is successful in hiding his differences, he quickly learns why those different traits are so important to him, and to the many blue-footed boobies like him.
Macartney does a magnificent job not only writing this book, but also providing warm, friendly illustrations with a kid friendly vibe; bringing comfort to young readers.
The writing is very relatable to young readers in that it uses phrases that they would associate to something usually found by them. I appreciated how she used kid-related phrases when Benjamin finds treasures on the beach: “A string-stretch-it?”
This book is a joy to read! Self-reflection and self-worth are two crucial skills to have at any age.
In the classroom, I would use this book to help my students understand what traits help make them uniquely wonderful. Good self-esteem (a good reflection), will always help you appreciate your self-worth. The book is also notable in that it helps children understand the effects of littering; another lesson in itself for young readers.
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More books for this Age Group can be found here.
My thanks to Pajama Press for providing a Review Copy of this book. All opinions provided herein are my own.
Please, leave comments! I love a HEALTHY exchange of ideas. After all, critical thinking is essential to life.
Tyler Stapleton–Contributor
Tyler has a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education, from The University of Virginia. He is currently a Second-Grade Teacher. “I have an enormous library in my classroom and am constantly searching for new additions for my collection so that my little leaders can explore the world through books.”
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