Review: Margot Finke Provides Beautifully Created and Written Children's Book



Image by Gustavo (lu7frb) via Flickr

Enough About My Behind, I want to tell you about Ruthie!

 Ruthie and

The Hippo's Fat Behind!

By Margot Finke







Margot Finke provides a Parent Teacher Guide in the back of her book which gives a list of questions that can be used to have a discussion with a child/children. One of the questions was "Did you like the Hippo? Do you think he stole Ruthie's story."

At first my response was "yes" because I couldn't "see" the connection between the title and the story. But then I realized--I'm no longer a kid! And kids always love pictures of animals! And I must say that the Hippo is indeed very cute--thanks to the wonderful work of K. C. Snider who illustrated Margot's book, Ruthie and The Hippo's Fat Behind!

Ruthie has moved far away from her home and friends.

And, as they say, she was not a happy camper!

In fact, she had become downright rude!

Here's how it all started:

Young Ruthie's mood changed overnight, her smiles slunk off in gloom...

Her moods grew big and ugly, like some Hippo's fat behind! (p. 1)

Now you may not have noticed it so much since I only shared two lines...but this whole book is told by Margot...in rhyme! And I must say she's very good at rhyming!

She's also very good at highlighting possible problems when a child's personality and normal behaviour has drastically changed, perhaps because of a family's relocation.

And then she explores not only one great option to consider, but, as mentioned earlier, has an entire list of thoughts and suggestions for a parent or teacher to consider when a child has gone through a big change.

Simple message, straight forward, but in such a colorful poetic manner! Adults can use the book to discuss not only Ruthie's change of moving from home, but as a guide for any change that might be upsetting a child.
Margot writes mid grade adventure fiction and rhyming picture books and was transplanted from Australia, so she knows about drastic moves... She's got an adventure book for boys set in the Aussie outback coming out soon...that should be fun. She gives her email address on the back of her book and says "I love hearing from kids." So kids can write directly to her after enjoying Ruthie and the Hippo's Fat Behind!

Well, mates, I just have to say that I enjoyed this book and believe it is an excellent read for children 5-12 and provides a fun and easy basis by which parents can explore "change" that occurs in a child's life! Highly recommended!

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G. A. Bixler