Sam Vole and His Brothers

by Martin Waddell, Barbara Firth (Illustrator)

Little Sam Vole dreams of voling in the meadow by himself, but his brothers always seem to follow him, and when he finally gets a free moment, he realizes that voling alone is not all it is cracked up to be.

Genres: Picture Books, Childrens, Animals

32 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 1992

About the author

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Martin_W...

Also writes under the pen name Catherine Sefton

Martin Waddell is the author of more than one hundred books for young readers.

Awards: Hans Christian Andersen Award for Writing (2004).

Reviews

[Judy · Rating 2 out of 5]

A picture book about voles is perfect for those occasions when we have a vole population explosion. The voles in this story, however, aren't normal. They spend time scampering about the woodland floor, seldom following a channel or diving down into a burrow. They also like eggs and flowers. And this little vole, Sam by name, goes voling. He voled and he voled all by himself. Hmm. Turning a noun into a verb doesn't help the story.

As I think about it, instead of using voles, Waddell could have used mice. There's nothing specific to voles in this story, which just made me lower my rating by one star.

Firth did a wonderful job with the art. At least Sam and the rest of his family look more like voles than like mice.

[Luna fox · Rating 2 out of 5]

Really repetitive…

[Edward Sojuwa · Rating 4 out of 5]

Sam is a young vole, which is a rodent more like a mole/guinea pig blend, and voles are cuddly critters! Sam wants to do things independent of his vole Brothers and finally gets his chance when he sneaks into the forest glade while his brothers are asleep. Sam is happy to be away from his brothers, doing things by himself....until he stops being happy and starts being lonely. So he heads back to his family, knowing it's better to be with family and Sam's time for Independence is not come yet, but one day it will be.
On a sad note, I wish I had the happy ending with my own family, my brothers especially, but I never did. But I'm very grateful Sam has found the love of his family. And me? Well, there's hope for all of us. And I'm very stubborn in my belief in the happy ending. How about you?
Four stars
Sam is a vole brother/soul brother!

[Marilyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Being grown up is not all that great. We still need our family.

[Becky B · Rating 3 out of 5]

Little Sam likes to do things with his big brothers, but sometimes he just wants to do things all by himself too.

The author decided to turn vole into a verb in this book, which struck me as really odd and became distracting. I actually tried looking "voling" up in a dictionary, but it isn't there. I'm not sure why the author didn't use terms that kids already know. It isn't like the story is even in rhyme, so he doesn't have Dr. Seuss' excuse. The actual story is ok. A good opening to talk about different personality types and how some people need alone time. I just got hung up on too many "voled" and "voling"s.

[Alida · Rating 4 out of 5]

The story is simple enough - little brother wants to do things without his older brothers but when he finally gets to be on his own, he misses them. What I really enjoyed were the illustrations, whimsical and sweet.

[Samantha · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was cute! (partially because Sam Vole is a Sam...I like Sams ^_^ ) The illustrations are delightful and the story shows how you feel about things until you actually do them. Then things change and you realize what you had and what you're missing. =)

[Jamie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Fun book for kids. Siblings may be annoying but they also make things more fun.

[Jax Goss · Rating 4 out of 5]

Cute little tale about being independent, and the value of family. :)