By Katie Weaver
A Little Offbeat Publishing, LLC
Picture Book, 31 Pages, Ages 3-6
“Oh, my goddess! What’s that in the wide-open blue?
It’s a ship that is filled with a LOUD pirate crew!
A huge SHIP in the sky? How on earth can this be?
I have never seen ships anywhere but the sea!”
Thunderstorms can be frightening to small children, and this is the premise for this imaginative and fantastical book about a boy who decides that he and his cat need to get to the bottom of his fears. They use balloons to float up above the clouds and find out what is making the sky roar with thunder!
Come along on this wacky, wild, and crazy adventure to face your fears!
The cleverness continues as he spies pirates dancing ballet – not the cause, but hilarious, especially the emblems on the ship’s sails. Next comes a fire truck putting out a fire, but again they aren’t the cause of the thunder… to note, the cat is roasting marshmallows at this point.
They finally come upon a HUGE T-rex dinosaur that is very angry because a pie she has made is completely destroyed. Wearing a pink flowered apron she’s looking for the suspects. And the story gets more fantastical from there.
This book has been written in verse, and has brightly colored illustrations certain to capture anybody’s imagination, especially small children frightened of thunder. A completely silly read-aloud book meant to entertain. Not every book needs a message, but there is a subtle one here that parents could find as a great teaching moment. Facing your fears is much better than running and hiding from them. An award winning book with a great shout-out from Kirkus, come along on this absurdly ridiculous, hilarious adventure. There’s even a recipe for the pie at the end of the book!
When The Sky Roars by Katie Weaver gets 5 stars from this reviewer.