The Success of Robert Fitzgibbons

Eric Blank
Clarke Morgan Press (2007)
ISBN 9780977264308
Reviewed by Ben Weldon (age 10) for Reader Views (10/07)

“The Success of Robert Fitzgibbons” is the fictional tale of a very good kid who follows the wishes of his parents and people around him and later comes to regret not following his own dreams.  Robert was good at sports, won spelling bees, got all A’s in school, and always obeyed his parents.  One thing Robert really loved was playing his guitar, but he quit when someone told him it would not take him far.  He went to college and studied hard because his parents wanted him to.  All the while he was wishing he could be playing the guitar in his buddy Ernie’s band.  As he grew older he began to wish that he had followed his dreams instead of doing what other people said he should do. 
           
This picture book is very pleasing to read because of the rhythm and the rhyme.  It is silly and the full-page illustrations are lively, too.  I liked how he expressed Robert’s feelings of being trapped when he wrote, “I want to jump in a lake or climb up a tree, not spend all day doing geometry.”  I think most kids can relate to this feeling! 
           
While the purpose of this book is to get the reader to follow his or her dreams, some readers might think that following a dream means doing exactly what you want, whenever you want, ignoring good advice.  I think that Robert Fitzgibbons could have followed his dream to play his guitar in a band and gone to college, too. The author does well to encourage the reader to not “march to the beat of someone else’s drummer, because not doing what you want makes life a real bummer.”  I’m not sure if “The Success of Robert Fitzgibbons” is more likely to get kids to follow their dreams or to tell their moms that they aren’t going to do any more schoolwork. 

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