Black Tortoise and the Dynasty Dragon (Fujimini Adventure Series #5)

Eileen Wacker
Once Kids (2012)
ISBN 9781467517416
Reviewed by Katarina Askew (age 8) for Reader Views (10/12)


Katarina’s Review:

“Black Tortoise and the Dynasty Dragon” by Eileen Wacker was a great book. The author’s main point is not to judge people. I think the author did a good job of teaching me not to judge people. I learned that, because in the story the hamsters were judging Black Tortoise. I think you should not judge people. The author is an awesome writer because she wrote a lesson in the story.

This book would make a perfect bedtime story for little kids. My favorite thing that I learned was that family is close no matter what. My favorite part is when the mom dragon pops out from behind a tree. This is my favorite part because they are family and mom says she is never going to leave the baby dragon again. My least favorite part is when Green Hamster and Pink Hamster spy on Black Tortoise. This is my least favorite part because they think he will attack the baby dragon.

The book is for younger readers. Little kids can read it in their library. The librarian can also read it. Their teacher can read it to them too. This is the best book ever. I hope everyone can read it. It can teach a lot of lessons. I learned so many lessons throughout the story. I also think it had an awesome setting in Fu Fun Forest. At the end there was a big party. Maybe I will read more and more. I love this book so much I will read it more. When I grow up I want to be a writer too. I will think of the friends and family when I am writing.

I read the book to my class and they told me their opinion of it. They all thought it was a great book and that it was funny. One of them liked the dictionary at the back of the book. Another one really liked the colorful animals. A few of them did have some suggestions to make it better though. They thought it needed to be more realistic, have more excitement, and they thought it was too long.

As I grow up I will learn polite things. This is one of the books that will teach me. I have a friend who is impolite; I am going to share this book with him. I love books with a lot of facts. It may have hard words, but I still enjoyed reading “Black Tortoise and the Dynasty Dragon” by Eileen Wacker.

Mom’s and teacher’s thoughts:

Katarina’s teacher and I were less than impressed with this book. The present tense usage felt clunky and verbose. The characters were unoriginally named (Pink Hamster, Green Hamster, Black Tortoise). While it was nice to introduce children to new cultures, it felt a bit culturally insensitive to mix Japanese, Chinese, and Korean cultures and beliefs into a catch-all, “Asian” heading, as these cultures are all rich and varied and no more homogenous than English, American, and Canadian cultures are, despite the occasional bit of shared history. We were going to allow Katarina to create her own review unaided by us, but felt these issues should be addressed, thus my addition here.


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