Blue Wolf Reviews

Tag: lonely

  • Snow Ghost

    Snow Ghost

    Snow Ghost is a lost and lonely wraith. The illustrations in this story reflect her ethereal nature, and the pastel shades and misty outlines of the pictures heighten the feeling. The story is simple with two or three lines of text on most pages; the visuals tell the story so well.

    The lonely ghost is seeking a home and some friends, but she senses that nobody in the villages she flies over would welcome her. On and on she flies, “Searching across the dark sky, but its cold, empty, loneliness causes her to sigh.” She passes over a wood but that is dark and gloomy, then she sees a farm and a small girl and boy playing outside. Could this be a place she could call home?

    The charming rhyming text of Snow Ghost has an easy flow and combines well with the illustrations. The size of this hardback book, the gentle nature of the story and the splashes of colour at the end all serve to present an enchanting bedtime read. Snow Ghost is aimed at younger readers who will enjoy the details on the pages.

  • The Lonely Christmas Tree

    The Lonely Christmas Tree

    Based on the time old and much-loved Yuletide rhyme, ‘T’was the night before Christmas’, Chris Naylor-Ballesteros takes us on a very different Christmas story, with The Lonely Christmas Tree who was high on a snow-clad hill, feeling sad and very lonely. He was cold and shivered in the chill of the winters snow.

    What was to happen he wondered, as all his friends who had once made up the wood around him had gone to happier, far more cheerful places. All he could see was some trees on a far distant hill. He dreamt of the same sort of wonderful magic happening to him, but only a lonely robin came by.

    That was until a stranger came walking up the hill with an axe over this shoulder. Maybe things were beginning to change for the lonely Christmas tree. Perhaps this really was his chance to be able to spread goodwill and good cheer.

    Beautifully presented and illustrated, this delightful reworking of a beloved tale makes the perfect beginning to the coming Christmas season, a tale which cannot fail to delight and one to be rediscovered Christmas, after Christmas, for years to come.

     

  • Finn and Puss

    Finn and Puss

    The front cover of this book shows a smiling boy and a smiling cat, ensuring that we know that all will be well. The tone of the story is set here and on the first few pages. The first double page spread shows a boy cutting out a paper aeroplane, and has the words “This is Finn.” The following double page shows a cat in a basket. The text says “This is Puss,” At first it seems the simplistic text is not telling a story, but merely labelling characters, but then we see in the following double page that the pattern is set for a minimalist story, ably supported by many illustrations.

     The illustrations are quite striking. Gentle pastel colours show a world from a cat’s perspective which is many feet; with each change of the story, the perspective changes. We learn that Finn is lonely and he finds the cat. In the street, just above his head is a poster showing a lost cat, exactly the same as puss. After Finn has fed the cat and she has played with him, Finn notices the poster. “Finn does the right thing.” He returns the cat to her owner, and trudges home.

     As promised by the front cover and the optimistic tone to the book, there is a happy ending, and a reward for someone who does do the right thing. The illustrations are childlike and show the focus of the story to be Finn. This leaves room for pondering what the child is thinking and what inner voices prompted his actions.

     This is a gentle story, simply told and quietly complete. The hardback presentation is attractive and solid for small hands