Title: Pretentious and tedious...kids immediately smell it as false
Product review: The tedious, self-serving prose in this book reads as though the author loves the sound of his own narative voice WAY too much. His endless, conjunction-addled sentences leave smart kids looking -- aching -- for the POINT. Steig sets up a sweet and caring friendship between a mouse and a whale -- certainly an unlikely pair -- but instead of playing with the natural contrasts there, he overburdens the story with his heavy-handed voice. There is so much focus on despair and helplessness that the story bogs down...and sinks under the weight of Steig's ego.
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