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Nellie Belle by Mem Fox Book Review

Nellie Belle by Mem Fox 
Illustrations by Mike Austin
Publisher: Beach Lane Books
Release Date: December 8, 2016

Nellie Belle is a loveable pup who has fun, fun, fun everywhere she goes.

The illustrations and story are simple and straightforward in this picture book about a fun-loving puppy. Written in a simple rhyme that desperately felt like it needed a melody to go along with it. In fact, I scoured the internet looking for such a song, thinking it would be like the Napping House, but no luck. Frankly, on its own the rhymes felt a bit clunky, as I had difficulty finding the non-existent beat. I don't think this ruined the story, it just felt like it was missing something. So somebody get on writing a song for this book, because it really needs it.



2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I loved hearing Mem Fox perform this book at the LA SCBWI this past fall. She is masterful! One of the points she made during her talk was that you had to listen to how the words flow off the tongue and sound to the ear when reading aloud. Her books are filled with internal rhythm, much like Margaret Wise Brown's.

Unknown said...

I would love to hear her read it. Perhaps someone recorded it? I just couldn't get the hang of the rhythm without something like that though.