Review of "I Wonder: A Book for Children, Parents and other Grownups," by Jane Altman

Review of

I Wonder: A Book for Children, Parents and other Grownups, by Jane Altman 

ISBN 9781478765820

Four out of five stars

The first section of part one contains a series of four line rhymes that generally have the same rhythm, one that reminded me of the song “Twinkle twinkle little star.” The structure is an image referencing the rhyme on the left side with the text on the right. There are fourteen such items, all but the last referring to animals. The last one is designed to reference the young reader.

 The next section of part one is a short story about a small village near the ruins of a very old castle. No one ever goes into it and no one seems to care about it. When a young man decides to leave the village and go out in the world, a stone in the castle glows at him, so he stops to grab it and then takes it with him. Something similar happens when a young woman also starts her journey out of the village.

 The two people then marry other people and have children, the story continues after their deaths when their children are going through their belongings and find what appear to be nondescript stones. They all return to the ancestral village and the children then see things in the castle that their parents cannot.

 Part two is given the designation that it is for the parents and grownups and is a set of short segments of more complex verse. There are rhymes having various orders where the matches occur. For example, the section of verse called “What to Do?” has three line segments where the first two lines rhyme as well as the third lines of sequential sections. They are designed to be read to children, they will sound pretty good if the proper intonation is applied.

 This is a good book for children, one that children will enjoy having read to them, for they have a natural affinity for rhyming verse. 

This book was made available for free for review purposes