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Flash the Donkey Makes New Friends

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Children will fall in love with Flash the Donkey as they learn the value of true friendship and what it means to be a good friend to others.
Hee-haw! A stray donkey with a penchant for inventions is taken in by a mismatched collection of barnyard friends. Flash the Donkey Makes New Friends is the heartwarming story of a not-so-ordinary donkey who needs a special place to belong. Flash is the inquisitive type who loves to invent things and solve problems, but his curiosity sometimes gets him into trouble! With the help of his new-found friends―Jed the Goat, Carson the Pig, and Ruby the Chicken―Flash manages to turn problems into adventures and learns valuable lessons along the way. Inspired by Rachel Anne Ridge’s memoir Flash , named one of Publishers Weekly’s Best Summer Books of 2015, kids will fall in love with this endearing donkey as they learn to appreciate the value of true friendship.

48 pages, Hardcover

Published October 1, 2016

23 people want to read

About the author

Rachel Anne Ridge

9 books62 followers

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5 stars
15 (41%)
4 stars
16 (44%)
3 stars
4 (11%)
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1 (2%)
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews
Profile Image for Cathy.
850 reviews22 followers
October 8, 2022
Love the book and the adorable illustrations including a daisy on every page :). Great book for animal lovers of all ages!
Profile Image for Just Commonly.
755 reviews108 followers
September 30, 2016
O, I absolutely adore Flash The Donkey Makes New Friends! And guess what? It's based on a real stray donkey adopted by author and illustrator, Rachel Anne Ridge. Flash was in one of the author's earlier books, Flash: The Homeless Donkey that Taught Me about Life, Faith, and Second Chances. Now that sounds quite interesting. I might need to grab myself a copy sometime.

In this title, Flash The Donkey Makes New Friends, you can see it's a kids picture book. The story is about Flash, the Donkey was hurt and was taken care of by some wonderful animals that saw what happened to him. He doesn't feel like he belongs anywhere with no name, no home and no friends. What happens is a heartwarming story of new friendships and what it means to be a friend. A wonderfully funny and thoughtful book to share with little ones, or read alongside. It's bound to be a favorite after one read, and might even inspire a little pajama reading party too! This is a book to be shared and treasured.


This review first appeared on Just Commonly blog.

NOTE: I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher for an honest review. All opinions expressed are my own. For my review policy, please see my Disclosure page.

Profile Image for Vera Godley.
2,025 reviews59 followers
November 3, 2016
This cute story begins with a donkey who has a wagon and puts it to use by pulling it, riding on it, sleeping in it, and stashing all his "finds" in it. (This is sure to appeal to all the little boys out there who have a beloved wagon themselves.) Then through an accident, he meets three new friends who take him in and patch him up.

After patching Flash the Donkey up, they let him sleep in the spare bed. Each of the other beds has a name on it, but not the spare bed. On the story progresses with Flash joining in the other's activities. They soon find they are becoming friends.

This story has genuine kid appeal and provides opportunity to learn the Biblical admonition to spread seeds of kindness and be a friend. So while being a fun book to read or have read aloud, it is also a book replete with spiritually educational and edifying lessons.

Rachel Anne Ridge has done a fantastic job of writing this story in a way that is appealing to the child and creating the illustrations. There is a special charm to the characters, especially Flash. And then the little daisy that keeps popping up on the pages is a "find me" project for readers.

DISCLOSURE: I received a complimentary copy of Flash the Donkey Makes New Friends to facilitate a review.
Profile Image for Dawn.
781 reviews84 followers
November 18, 2016
This book is super cute. I loved the way that the animals took Flash and adopted him. I also love the lessons that this book teaches about compassion and being kind to others. I read this book to my best friend's little girls and they loved it. Since I gave it to them, I've seen that it is a frequent one that they pull out to read.

I received this book from the publisher to share my honest opinion. I was not compensated in any way. My thoughts and opinions are my own.

Recommended to parents of young children, teachers, anyone who enjoys picture books

Rating - 4 stars
Profile Image for Erin.
84 reviews5 followers
October 28, 2016
Flash the Donkey Makes New Friends is an adorable book that teaches children the importance of helping others and being kind. In the story, there are animal characters that meet a traveling homeless donkey named Flash. Something happens to donkey making him in need of help and a hen, pig, and goat comes to his aid.

The characters in this story feature interesting and diverse personalities much like the people a child might meet in their class or group. The illustrations portray the emotions well with what's going on.
I think one of the biggest takeaways of this book is that life happens not always like we imagine it will. I'm sure the donkey or the other animals didn't expect what happened to cause a reaction over time that forged a great friendship between the four of them!

The story is light-hearted and the biggest take away is being kind. This doesn't always mean you'll make friends but you never know. It's definitely a good read for starting this conversation. The Bible verse in this book is Proverbs 11:30, "The seeds of good deeds become a tree of life; a wise person wins friends."

At the end of the book, there's a section titled "Now That You've Finished the Story...". In this section, there's an area for children to answer a few questions about caring for others, their friends, and lists some ideas on how to be caring.
The text was easy for my eight-year-old to read but a little challenging for my five-year-old. Both my son and eldest daughter told me the enjoyed the illustrations and the story. I feel it's gotten them to think about others more. After reading the book myself, I'm personally interested in the authors' real-life tale of the donkey that she adopted!
This tale is best suited for boys and girls ages 5 years old up, in my opinion.

This book was given me by Tyndale House for the purpose of reading and writing a review. All opinions expressed are my own.
20 reviews
November 13, 2019
This is a cute and heartfelt story about a donkey who makes friends on his journey. Flash has a broken down wagon and needs some help so a few other farm animals help him out and make him feel at home. The animals notice that Flash doesn't have a place of his own as the donkey is heading towards the exit to go back to the wagon and those animals take the donkey in and give Flash a home. Students can relate to this story as making friends can be nerve racking at first. This fictitious is aimed towards elementary students and could be read in a whole class setting or as an individual reader. The illustrations in this book are very imaginative and almost overshadow the great texts that are being read.

I chose this book because it's a cute story that has a message about the importance of being nice to others. This story can be used for literacy instruction. Teachers can use the text in the book by teaching reading comprehension strategies about identifying describing a characters development. The story could be used to have discussions about friendships within class and outside of class. I would recommend this book to early students from grades k-3rd.
Profile Image for Marie.
66 reviews6 followers
November 10, 2016
Story:

Really freakin’ adorable. The text is so simple, but so much fun. The author chose her words carefully, and the story really works well.

Add to that a wonderful page layout and use of typography, and you’ve got a winner of a story. This one is just plain fun for kids to read.

Illustrations:

Fun, hilarious illustrations by the author herself. It seems the author has a lovely sense of humor, and you get a taste of that in both her words and her artwork.

Cover:

Honestly, a little blah compared to the rest of the book. I would have liked more of a hint at the goofy fun inside. The text treatment is a bit boring as well, though simply making the title LARGER could have solve a lot of the problem.
Profile Image for Brooke (i blog 4 books).
582 reviews5 followers
August 2, 2017
What a cute book! I haven't read the original "Flash" memoir for adults, but I thought this children's book was too cute to ignore. The illustrations are simple yet beautiful. And the story of friendship and learning to make friends is one that all readers can benefit from. I enjoyed meeting the other animals along Flash's journey and appreciated the author's ability to tell a story and teach valuable lessons without being "preachy" or "cheesy." I'm adding this one to my daughter's bookshelf so we can enjoy it for years to come. [5 stars]

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my fair and honest review.
10 reviews
February 26, 2020
Perhaps my child (4.5) is simply too young for this book, but it seems that picture books should appeal to exactly that age, give or take a few years. This one seemed to have a long and convoluted storyline; I had to start summarizing almost immediately to keep my child’s attention, which is rare, but it was hard to do even that since I couldn’t figure out the focus of the story. I’m glad so many other people like the book and see value in it for their kiddos. Just not for us.
Profile Image for Josie Siler.
Author 3 books29 followers
June 16, 2021
I loved this cute book about Flash the donkey and his new friends. The heartwarming story made me laugh and appreciate my own friends. The illustrations were also cute!
Profile Image for Jessica Baker (A Baker's Perspective).
1,437 reviews89 followers
November 26, 2016
What a cute story of this donkey's journey with his blue wagon making new friends! I loved how even though it is a child's picture book, it still has labeled chapters. The illustrations are beautiful and colorful, just what a child's attention needs. And the story is written with words that I feel are mostly able to be sounded out by a young one - possibly first or second grade depending on their reading ability. I loved seeing the verse in the back and the section where you can discuss making friends with your child. I think this would even be great in a homeschool or Christian school setting.

I received a complimentary copy of this book from the publisher. I was not required to write a favorable review. All thoughts and opinions are 100% my own.
Profile Image for Jason Stanley.
188 reviews1 follower
December 29, 2016
Flash is a donkey on his own. He and his blue wagon make the rounds around town as he collects discarded items that he sees value in. Then, as he and his loaded wagon make it up a hill, Donkey and the wagon crash into a tree.

Three Good Samaritans stop when they see Donkey with a bump on his head. They discuss the best options, including taking Donkey back to his home. When they find out that Donkey has no home, it is decided that he will go home with them.

Read more at http://jasoncstanley.com/book-review-...
Profile Image for Amanda.
6 reviews2 followers
November 20, 2016
I picked this book for my son so I’ll stick with his opinions/thoughts for this review.

Out of 5 stars, his review is between 4.5 or 5 stars. Three things he really liked were:

They had really good illustrations.
It had a happy ending
That it felt like a true story (I think this is from the picture of the donkey on the inside cover flap).
When I asked him if there was anything he would change, he said no because he didn’t want to make it seem like fiction when it was a true story.
Profile Image for Misty.
498 reviews241 followers
December 1, 2016
Flash the Donkey Makes New Friends is an adorable kids book about a donkey's life and how he comes to meet and make new friends who give new meaning to his life. I loved the Christian aspects of the book! The illustrations were beautiful and don perfectly for a young child so as to be cute and age appropriate. I found the book to also be a good beginner reader book as the words are simple and not too hard to understand with a bit of adult help!
Displaying 1 - 16 of 16 reviews

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