Felicity and the Featherless Two-Foot by Loralee EvansMy rating: 4 of 5 stars
Having previously read about “Felicity the Sparrow” I was curious to see what new adventure she was about to encounter in this book, always bearing in mind the interests of my grandchildren. It was pleasing to find the inclusion of several illustrations throughout the second story, which I found to be artistically charming regarding the depiction of the living creatures and fairies. For me, though, the buildings and backdrop scenery appeared to be a little too mathematically graphic, requiring some artistry to modify the “perfect” straight lines etc. It’s probably just me because I doubt the kids would notice.
Now to the story: I thought it was charming throughout, with humour aimed at adults and children, elements of pathos in bearable amounts for little ones and two major characters, in Felicity and Cairn, that one grows to love and care about right to the end of the tale. This story was full of imaginative ideas and situations for Felicity to cope with, like using a word processor and reluctantly accepting help from, the inevitably cheeky sparrow chum, Cairn. The delightful innocence of two sparrows, one who is literate and the other with a penchant for maths, comes through wonderfully – particularly when they are trying to communicate with a human being, one Mr Yellow Horse! I have no doubt that my grandchildren will love this story as much as the many more youngsters still to discover Loralee Evans’ book. We are even treated to some fairy magic near the end.
A criticism in practical terms would be to set the first line, at the start of each chapter, on the same level as the initial, very large, capital letter. I understand that it may be intended to add a different “interesting” bit of style but it could easily confuse struggling early readers in my opinion as an ex-teacher. The kindle version should have a digitally workable table of contents to improve the professional (expected) touch seen in most ebooks.
I was provided with a complimentary copy of this book so I could give an honest and objective review.
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