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| Book Cover Via Amazon.com |
Opinion
My son is autistic, and any opportunity I have to find something we can bond over that will help him expand his horizons is a good thing for me. Today, this book has helped. My son loves to be a big helper. He especially loves to help when he thinks it’s his idea. If you have a kid like that, this book may be the best kind of way to get them to do something on their terms. I picked it up on Kindle Unlimited, and on the e-copy, it is very kid friendly. More on that shortly.
My first impressions on the book, it was a lot more in-depth than an ordinary children’s book given the age range. I like that about it. It read quickly, had great drawings, and there is a video attachment on the e-copy that my son enjoyed.
Let’s go into a critique, and for this one, we are going to the “Story Structure, Foundation, and Presentation” portion of my scoring. The only one I have is an e-reader issue where the pictures can sometimes make the words stretch or fall strangely on the page. Now, I see illustrations on e-readers all the time. The books that do this the best put the picture on its page and make sure it isn’t in the paragraph path of the rest of the book. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen here. If you change the fonts and such, it can cause issues to how it looks. It also can be confusing to little ones like my son, who didn’t understand why the page looked weird when he flipped it on the picture, and there was only one word on the next page.
Next is his critique. “What did you not like about the book” is what I asked him.
“The train is broken! His daddy bunny is sad because it broke and they are sad too” was his response. So there you go everyone, my son gives spoilers with his critiques. Thank you for your understanding though, he was very adamant that I inform the world of how sad the daddy bunny was.
Let’s go into what both my son and I loved about “I love to keep my room clean,” and I” ll start with him. I asked him, “What do you like about the book?”
He said, “Mommy bunny brought cookies! Can we have cookies?”
Once again, spoiler city, but he found that a big deal. I can concur, can we have cookies? Can we please?
Here is what I loved about “I Love to Keep My Room Clean." Mainly, the step by step explanation to a child of what it looks like when you aren’t cleaning as you go is huge. To see the conflict that can come not only explains to a kid what it looks like but offers a teachable moment to the parent to help the child remember a similar situation. My son had one. "Remember when you lost your Spiderman mask because you stepped on it when it was under your blanket?" was the connection for my son to remember this can happen to anyone once you have that piece, the next part of the book transitions how to fix the problem, and why it’s crucial to maintain cleaning your room.
If you have a child that needs the “Why do I need to do this” then this is the book for you. The book also promotes a kind of conversation. Though my son is brilliant, he stared at me, and we were able to communicate for a moment non-verbally. But in that stare with wide shining eyes, and a gleam of hope, I was able to glean from him, “Okay mom, you are right. I am so tired of broken toys when I run around in my room. What do I do to fix it?” that gets covered as well. I love this kind of teaching storytelling. I think by using the bunny family it made it friendly, but also because the kids are independent thinkers, it made it personable to my son.
And for the record, bravo on this book. My son got to work cleaning his toybox immediately after we read it together. That’s saying something. He is the perfect kid for a book like this because he likes to implement things. I hope that skill goes with him through life and that he finds excellent use in books that help him figure out how to make things better.
Lastly, as a mom, I want to let all you other parents know that “I Love to Clean My Room” is the kind of book you can read to your kids many times and not get tired of it. There are some books that you get for your kids and you -know- that it’s going to be a thing they love, and you will dread. I do not see myself dreading “I Love to Clean My Room” for storytelling at night when I read a book to my son. I see myself enjoying to journey repeatedly, even if it is consecutive nights, to enjoy reading it. I think for my son, he’s going to pick up something new with each reading, and that will challenge him to implement that or think of another way to do something in some other part of the house.
Score
With everything into consideration and the fact that my son’s critiques do not weight the score, I give “I Love To Clean My Room” a resounding 98/100 which is a five-star review on Goodreads and Amazon. If you are looking for that unique book to read to a kid who needs to learn why cleaning is essential, consider picking it up. The e-copy also includes a video so enjoy that on your Kindle!
Until next time my friends, have a great day.
