Review
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Title: The UnValentine
Author: Sam Beeson
Publisher: Shadow Mountain
Genre: Fiction for children
Year Published: 2008
Number of Pages: 38
Binding: Hardcover
ISBN: 978-1-59038-843-3
Price: $12.95
Reviewed by Jeffrey Needle
For the non-romantics among us (myself included, I suppose), the closest we get to an intimate knowledge of St. Valentine's Day is some memory of a massacre that we've read about in the early 20th century. Thugs knocking off thugs -- yuck. But we all saw the movie, right?
Oh yeah, one more memory. When I was in grade school, I can remember our teacher instructing us to write a Valentine's day card to one of our classmates. Now, this seems like a cute exercise, but, in reality, even if we were sweet on one of our classmates, we never wanted that person to know! The thought of writing a love note was just not in the cards for us.
The little hero of this little book is a young girl named Lily. The first page of the book spells it all out for us: "Lily didn't believe." Poor Lily! She didn't think there was any such thing as love. But then, one day, a classmate sends her a note, expressing his love for her, and Lily becomes a believer.
Not much of a storyline. But the entire story is written in pseudo-verse -- things generally rhyme -- and the entire book is lavishly illustrated by Jesse Draper. And young children will love hearing the story read to them. But the kicker is what is found at the end of this book: six removable Valentine's Day cards with thoughts varying from the sticky sweet to the hilariously cynical. One of the cards reads: "In the space below, write a word that describes Valentine's Day and rhymes with Cupid." What a hoot!
This is a nice little book. A little pricey, perhaps, but the kids will enjoy removing the tear-out cards and sending them to their little friends. And, to be honest, the illustrations are some of the best I've seen in a long time.
To all you romantics, Happy Valentine's Day. Try not to massacre anyone. Make it fun.
Jeff Needle
Association for Mormon Letters
jeff.needle@gmail.comwww.aml-online.orgwww.LDSBookLovers.com/Needle.html
