Review of
Billy
Or Tale of the Family Shoe Lace: An Adventure Story,
by Betty Norman
9781312421219
This is a story
that is more for boys than girls. Billy is a tiny shrew that lives in a shoe
with his family, including two sisters Lilly and Milly that he considers silly.
He has his own room and he often lies in his bed and dreams of carrying out
great adventures.
One night when
it rains hard, the adventure finds Billy. The water rises and their shoe house
begins floating away. Thinking very fast, Billy rallies his sisters and they
pull the long shoelace out of the loops. Billy then uses it to lasso a tree and
pull their shoe up on to dry land. Billy is declared a hero and his thirst for
adventure has been quenched, at least for the present. He now has more respect
for his formerly silly sisters as well. Billy is also content to live a life of
rest and leisure.
The text is
structured in short blocks where the last line rhymes with an earlier one,
sometimes there are four lines where all rhyme. The level of difficulty is
roughly that of a second grader, although late first graders can also
understand it. The illustrations are colorful, but not in the bright and
dominating sense.
With a message
about dreams of adventure coming true and that desire being satisfied, this is
a simple story about getting what you wish for and then being content.
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