Author: Gerry Thomas
ISBN: 978-1-4327-6006-9
Publisher: Outskirts Press

Click Here To Purchase The Umbrella Race
 
“Who ever heard of a talking, walking, umbrella?”

Join Melyssa’s magical adventure with her umbrella!  The umbrella, which has been sprinkled with magic dust, can walk and talk whenever it rains.  It’s colorful and vibrant personality is sure to bring smiles to all who read her tales.


The Umbrella Race is a cute and magical story about a young girl named Melyssa, who discovers the umbrella her aunt gave her is magical.  The umbrella can talk to her and walk with her.  When Melyssa and her umbrella, Rainbow, are at the park, they meet many children who also have magical umbrellas.  When Rainbow decides to have a race, the fun begins!  When the rain stops, the magic goes away until another rainy day.  Melyssa takes her umbrella home to rest until the rain comes again.  When Melyssa hears her moms voice telling her to wake up she realizes it was all a wonderful dream.  A dream she shares with her best friend, who decides they must play and pretend their umbrellas are magical together.


The Umbrella Race is a cute story that encourages the use of imagination and having fun creative dreams.  I loved the vibrant and colorful pictures that were spread across the pages of this book.  They are wonderfully creative, appeasing to the eyes and fun to look at!  The pictures are so full imagination and happiness which make them easy to enjoy.  The book is 24 pages, 12 with text and 12 with pictures.  The length of the text pages makes this book suitable for juveniles.  I would recommend the book for children ages 6-8 years of age.  My younger children were not interested enough in sitting for the story that was quite long and a little drawn out for their age.  They did enjoy looking at the interactive illustrations.  Children nine and older would most likely find this book boring as they are ready to move into smaller novels and lengthier non-picture books.


The only issue I had with this book was the price.  It is a hardcover book and retails for $25.95, which I felt was outrageous for the content.  Though I liked the story and illustrations I would not purchase the book at this price.  I do not purchase full length hard cover novels for myself at this price and would not consider spending the money on a book of this size for a child.  There are many other suitable and fun options available for less.  My only advice to the author or publisher would be to reconsider the price tag of this book.

Click Here To Purchase The Umbrella Race