Reviewer’s name:

Calista Kee, Elijah Polanco, Tarneem Gabr  

Area A: Text

How is the title? Could it be improved?

The title is good. It introduces the problem and the main character to give an accurate and brief overview of the story.

What is the plot of the story?

The main character Ryan and his mom go to visit his grandmother in the hospital as she suffers from COVID-19. Ryan becomes curious as to what COVID-19 is and how it spread, causing the book to give a brief but effective explanation of the COVID-19 virus. Ryan goes to school and he must now follow all of the COVID-19 guidelines, but he faces many other children ignoring these safety precautions. This allows Ryan to show what the proper course of action is in various potentially germ spreading situations, allowing him to receive an award for keeping all of his classmates safe. The book ends with Ryan and his newly recovered grandmother getting their COVID vaccines with an explanation as to how the vaccine works, and Ryan can now hang out with his vaccinated friends outside without masks. 

The text of a children’s book is usually organized into simple sentences and short paragraphs. Is the topic conveyed in a simplified way? Does the information seem appropriate for a 7-year-old audience? Explain.

It does simplify the information for a younger audience. However, I do feel that some words may be too big and the paragraphs could be slightly shortened.

List any literary tools used to help make the story more vivid, including rhythm, alliteration, repetition, refrains, onomatopoeia, simile, personification, rhyme, and imagery. 

They did not use any literary tools besides imagery through the pictures on their slides. Perhaps they did this so as to keep the story as simple as possible so children would have an easier time understanding it.

Describe the flow of the story. Is it effective?

Yes, the story flows in a way that is logical and easy to follow for a young audience while keeping their interest.

Does the story make sense? Get boring? Be honest and critical:

The story does make sense. First Ryan sees his grandmother sick with COVID, and as a result takes the pandemic seriously. The rest of the story revolves around him convincing and teaching his friends at school to take the pandemic seriously as well. The story itself is not boring but it is very predictable. However, it is a children’s book so being predictable is not necessarily a bad thing.

Area B: Illustrations

Is there a cover? What does it look like?

Yes, there is a cover. It contains images of all the characters in the story as well as the title.

What is the primary medium (collage, drawings, photographs, etc.) used in the illustrations?

The illustrations are all clipart from the internet.

Are the illustrations appropriate for a young audience? 

Yes, they are brightly-colored and cartoon-like.

Describe the design (color, size on page, location on page, etc.). Is it effective?

Yes, the images are the focus of the page for many slides, with speech bubbles and captions telling the story.

Are the illustrations effective and consistent? Explain how or how not.

Yes, the illustrations show the story playing out in a simple and effective way for young kids.

Do the illustrations guide readers through the story? How can they be improved?

The illustrations effectively guide the reader through the story. They are all very simple and easy to follow. One way they could be improved is if the images were more consistent with one another. For example, in the doctor’s office the doctor and grandmother are very clean images whereas Ryan looks very pixelated.

Area C: Characterization

Is there an easily identifiable dominant trait of the story’s main character?

The main character is very health-conscious and helpful to his peers.

What character traits of the main character are established through the text?

He is shown to be very worried about the safety of his classmates and everyone in general. He is being very clean because of what he learned from his mom about COVID-19, and he is using that knowledge to help protect those around him whenever he sees a problem.

What character traits of the main character are established through the illustrations?

It can be seen in the story that Ryan is a very responsible child. He consistently corrects his classmates when they do

something wrong while informing them why what they did was wrong.

Is the audience able to identify or sympathize with the main character?

The audience can identify with the main character because everyone went through similar experiences when first hearing about the pandemic and experienced the same emotions, whether it was frustration at others for not following guidelines or worry for an infected family member. 

What is the main problem that the main character faces in the book? How is this problem similar to a problem that most children have faced before?

The main problem he faces is getting those around him to adhere to guidelines for COVID-19 like sanitizing their hands and keeping their masks on. It may not have been a common problem in the past, but in current happenings, this is very applicable to all kids that go to school or leave the house in general.

How will the character in your story solve the main conflict?

The character solves the conflicts by showing the appropriate course of action that the other characters must follow in order to stay protected from the virus. In the end, the overall COVID conflict is resolved when everyone gets vaccinated.