Book Reviews: Oliver and Jumpy, Stories 13 - 15

Apparently, there are thirty-nine stories, by Werner Stejskal, about Oliver, the cat; and Jumpy, the kangaroo, available in thirteen "books" - three stories per "book."  I use the term "book" loosely, because these "books" are available as ebooks from Amazon.com  They are also available from BarnesandNoble.com, Google Play, iBooks, and Kobo.

An introduction to readers who, like me, missed all of the previous stories, indicates that Oliver is "the most famous cat in the country."  This begs the question, "What country?"  And, if he's so famous, why haven't I heard of him before?  Oliver must not be as famous as my favorite fictional cat, Garfield!
 
I read Stories Thirteen, Fourteen, and Fifteen, which are illustrated by Maycee Ann Reyes, and edited by Julia Gutheil, M. Ed. [Master of Education].  The stories and illustrations seem appropriate for toddlers, and actually have plots and morals, similar to those in Aesop's Fables.  The weak use of the English language is what I like the least about these stories.

Story Thirteen is titled "Baby Sitting."   The writing struck me as weak in the first paragraph:  "The last time had been...  kids grow up so quickly and become a lot more active!"  "Was" is a simpler, stronger word for "had been," and the last sentence begs the questions, "How quickly?" and "More active than what?"

The second paragraph begins with, "'Knock, knock!'  Bears are very good climbers..." as if the author were about to tell a knock-knock joke, but suddenly decided to discuss bears' ability to climb instead.

"Had been" is used repeatedly where was or were would be more appropriate.  

Then the story ends with, "Bearlybye!"

Story Fourteen is titled "Good Deed Day."  It takes place "today," which begs the question, of course, which day that was.  
The phrase "would need help urgently" begs the question "if what were to happen?"  The phrases "came visiting," "had lost," and "is now" are other examples of weak, impractical wording.

This story ends with "Piggybye!"

Story Fifteen is titled "Magic."  It takes place in "Sillandia, the silly country," a silly place, indeed. 

Weak, impractical phrases in these story include "something alive...watching,"  "turning [a] head in disgust,"  "'roo power," (presumably "kangaroo power), "door was shaking" "grandest hall ever seen," and "tell the truth by me" instead of "to me,"  "tested us the day's flying lesson," and "like if" instead of "as if."  Mr. Stejskal uses the singular pronoun "it" to refer to the plural noun, "wands." 

The story ends with, "Wandybye!"

More information about Oliver and Jumpy is available on their official website:
 
www.bedtimestory4you.com

Review by William Mortensen Vaughan