BENJAMIN OLIVER FLANAGAN

Written by A. Dale Triplett
Illustrated by Kevin Scott Collier
Published Winter 2006 by New World Publishing

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Review by Donna Eggett

"Poor Benjamin Oliver Flanagan! None of the children will play with him. They think he is just a rich little kid with plenty of toys. They don't know that Benjamin only plays with one toy. His little red wagon named Speedy. Benjamin and Speedy go on many adventures until one day catastrophy strikes. Find out how Benjamin deals with the loss of his best friend until love, inspiration and faith deliver a blessing in disguise

With rhythmic verse, cute cartoon type pictures by Kevin Scott Collier, and a strong moral, Benjamin Oliver Flanagan will please preschoolers through 2nd graders, and their adults. A happy, playful child, Benjamin finds out how sad life can be when his special toy friend, Speedy the Red Wagon, crashes. To Benjamin’s dismay, his father has to demolish Speedy before he can fix this wagon. Although the author does not apply Scripture or the Lord to the moral, the Christian meaning is very apparent and, with a little mentoring, the young reader will be able to verbalize the significance of this story.

This little book is a good size for small hands. The words are easy for early readers and memorable for non-readers. Collier's pencil illustrations are in black and white, which will encourage little artists to color them. In fact, a good gift might be this book along with a box of crayons. The one drawback is its price of $15.95, which is a lot for this standard of book. However, if you can cope with the price your little ones will enjoy reading Benjamin Oliver Flanagan several times."