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A review by xterminal
Willoughby & The Lion by Greg E. Foley
2.0
Greg Foley, Willoughby and the Lion (Bowen Press, 2009)
Covers much the same ground as The Bake Shop Ghost (elsewhere in this issue), but much more focused on design than on story, and suffers for it. It is, however, a very pretty thing to look at, and Foley draws on some interesting source material for at least one of the pictures here (he notes it in an afterword); adults may find more to get out of the particular frame than kids will. My biggest problem with it, however, is the over-dramatization of the resolution; again I come back to The Bake Shop Ghost, which was subtler in its ending, and more accomplished. Still, the kids will like the shiny, and the parents will as well, though I don't think this one will stand up to the repeated re-readings that one has to take into account when considering kidlit. **
Covers much the same ground as The Bake Shop Ghost (elsewhere in this issue), but much more focused on design than on story, and suffers for it. It is, however, a very pretty thing to look at, and Foley draws on some interesting source material for at least one of the pictures here (he notes it in an afterword); adults may find more to get out of the particular frame than kids will. My biggest problem with it, however, is the over-dramatization of the resolution; again I come back to The Bake Shop Ghost, which was subtler in its ending, and more accomplished. Still, the kids will like the shiny, and the parents will as well, though I don't think this one will stand up to the repeated re-readings that one has to take into account when considering kidlit. **