What I Loved:

I loved the idea of finding room for everyone.

How I Felt:

This book just missed the mark on so many levels for me and my daughter really struggled with it as well.

The illustrations were so elongated and my daughter and I did not like it. It really bothered her that the arms were so long, and while I was able to look past that, I had trouble with other parts. There was a page saying the animals had enough space, but the baby elephant was squished, I mean literally drawn in the space under the legs of the mommy elephant. Another said all the whales had enough space, but the whales were all completely squeezed into the scene with no swimming space. They weren’t all even drawn flat out, they looked a bit like a Tetris game. My daughter even mentioned that the whales looked like they needed more room. So, overall, the illustrations were just not telling the story that the words were and it made the book disconnected.

The story felt rushed and not thought out. The main character was a baby on page 1 and a grown man by page 3. My daughter was confused about why he had grown up so fast, and it’s ok to rush through the younger years if the story focuses on him as an adult, however that’s not what happened. The main character could honestly have been any age through the whole book and it would not have affected the story. The book doesn’t give time to enjoy the character and connect with him and that is why the story was affected. Unfortunately, by the end she didn’t care about anything he was saying. We closed the book and she said, that’s a 3 star.

To Read or Not To Read:

I hate telling anyone not to read a book. Every reader is different and every reading experience is different. For my daughter and I, this was not a well-thought out book, however, if it piques your interest, grab it and check it out. You may find a completely different experience.

A baby is in his mommy’s tummy and there’s room, then he’s a boy and there’s room, then a man and there’s room. Then we move from location to location as he travels and there’s room. All of a sudden, we turn the page, and now there isn’t enough room for humans. The story has a nice message at the end, it’s a secret, so I won’t share it, but the book ended so abruptly we didn’t even get time to enjoy the happy secret.

This ARC was provided to me by NetGalley and Myrick Marketing & Media, Tiny Owl Publishing for free. I am leaving my honest, unbiased opinion voluntarily.