today’s children storybook summary is
The Birthday Party
By Ronald & Juanita Destra
Storyline: Children love birthday parties. There’s balloons, presents, cake, and all their friends together. And they are promised few hours, the least, of full of fun. All day long they are waiting for the party, building up excitement and anticipation.
The character of this book, a boy who’s name we don’t know, is no different. He is just turning “big” twelve. On his birthday, he decided to start the day by doing something for himself, so he bikes to school. Once there, he notices that his friends are acting very strange. Puzzled, he goes on with his day. Back home, he finds an empty house. There are no parents, and no presents. But he’s not disheartened, he does his homework, plays and showers. Finally, his parents come home and takes him out for dinner. But once at there, even stranger things happen: the restaurant is empty.
At this point the boy must have had a feeling that something is “up” but if that was the case we don’t know. Parents and kid sit at a table when out of the blue (or the darkness of the room) all his school mates pop us, along with his teachers, to sing him happy birthday. I guess, the day wasn’t that strange anymore. Just surprising. It was surprise birthday party.
Characters: a boy with no name, his parents, school mates
Illustration: Ronald & Juanita Destra are also the illustrators of this book. Their pictures are plain and simple, concentrated on the character(s). Colors are bold and strong, used mainly to build the depiction, then to tell a visual story. The pagination is also basic, with the picture on one page and the text on the other. Overall, you get the idea that more could be done to illustrate this book.
Recommended Age: 5-8 (even written about a 12-year-old boy, this story is well below a 12-year-old reader, hence the age recommendation).
Reading Time: 4 minutes
How many stars would you give this book? See the votes bellow.