Written and Illustrated by Alex Latimer
I feel it needs to be stated up front that this book is somewhat derivative of Oliver Jeffers in style, right down to the little stick legs. That being said, the borrowing can be forgiven because The Boy Who Cried Ninja is pretty much as good as any Jeffers book. This is a funny variation on Aesop’s Boy Who Cried Wolf fable, in which ninjas, astronauts, sea creatures, and time-traveling monkeys are really and truly causing all sorts of problems in the household, and our protagonist is not only getting blamed for the problems but double-troubled for lying, even though he is actually telling the truth. Since I already mentioned that it looks like an Oliver Jeffers book you can expect that the illustrations are humorous and whimsical. I thought the dialogue bubbles filled with pictures instead of text were a really clever move. This is fun and humorous throughout, and may actually encourage more truth-telling by not pounding children over the head with the moral like the original does…
Review by Joshua Whiting, Granite Library Media Program
Rating: ★★★★✩ (4 stars)
Interest Level: Grades K-4
The Boy Who Cried Ninja
Written and Illustrated by Alex Latimer
Peachtree Publishers, Ltd.
32 pages
Release Date: April 28, 2011
ISBN: 9781561455799 (hardcover)
