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What Members Thought
I thought both the writing and illustrations were good, but something about the story didn't really resonate for me. The author/adult characters seemed overly harsh about Sam's "reckless habit of lying." Pretending your doormat is a chariot pulled by dragons is not lying, it is pretending. Lying is conveying untruths to people, and no one in their right mind would believe the stuff Sam says. I know, I know, we are told Thomas believes it, but I didn't buy that. Even if he were young and naive en
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Oh, I just loved this book. It’s amazing to me that it was first published in 1966 (and my library copy was the original hardcover 1966 edition) yet I’d never heard of it until I saw my Goodreads’ friend Kathryn’s review.
I loved the illustrations (admittedly old-fashioned at this point), I loved the cat Bangs, I loved the girl Sam, and I especially loved this story. It’s a wonderful story, with suspense (it did scare me there for a minute, but it does have a happy ending) and pathos and humor, t ...more
I loved the illustrations (admittedly old-fashioned at this point), I loved the cat Bangs, I loved the girl Sam, and I especially loved this story. It’s a wonderful story, with suspense (it did scare me there for a minute, but it does have a happy ending) and pathos and humor, t ...more
I was very interested to read others' reviews of SB&M here and on Amazon. Some people were really bothered by the morality tale underlying the storybook, and argue that Sam is unduly punished for her childish fantasies (given that she is a child coping with the loss of her mother) and that the book therefore admonishes fantastical imagination play. But I am going to quote a review that summed it up for me nicely, by user Sam (660175-sam), as long as she doesn't mind:
"Sam has to learn the differe ...more
"Sam has to learn the differe ...more
This book was HORRID!!! This fantastical little girl spins dreamy stories about her mermaid mother (who actually died) and going to the moon. But then her cat and best friend almost die at sea, and the book says it's all her fault because of her stories. Talk about a bummer!!! This really shoots down kids like me who escaped their own world by making one up! YUCK!
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Sep 17, 2014
Jackie
rated it
it was ok
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
picture-books,
caldecott-winners
Mar 15, 2023
Amanda
added it
