|
Olive, the Other Reindeer.
J. Otto Seibold. Illustrated by Vivian Walsh.
Subject Headings:
Preschool - grade 1 / Ages 4 - 6.
* /4
|
excerpt:
Back at the dog house,Olive was wrapping presents and listening to the radio. She heard the same song again."All of the other reindeer...," went the song.
"Olive, the other reindeer...," Olive sang along.
"Olive...the Reindeer, " said Olive. "I thought I was a dog. Hmmm, I must be a Reindeer!"
It was the time of the year when all the reindeer reported to the North Pole to help Santa Claus.
Olive put down her scissors carefully, and marched out the door.
As Christmas approaches, Olive, a little dog, hears people singing holiday songs. Whenever they sing the line, "All of the other reindeer...", she mistakenly thinks that they are saying, "Olive - the other reindeer." Convinced that she must be a reindeer and not a dog, Olive takes the bus to the North Pole and arrives just in time to set out with Santa on his Christmas Eve deliveries. Santa and his reindeer team encounter several mishaps, but Olive, using her canine talents, manages to save the day. Upon her return to the North Pole, everyone cheers for Olive, and Santa presents her with her very own set of reindeer antlers.
Seibold's story, its predictability obvious from the start, doesn't quite live up to its promising title. The idea of another person, animal or toy (you fill in the blanks) helping Santa to deliver the gifts on Christmas Eve, and, thereby, saving Christmas, is tired and worn-out. Only the very young will find this story amusing.
Walsh's illustrations have been created on an Apple computer using Version 6.0 of the Adobe software program. Nowadays, many computer-generated graphics are very exciting, but these two-dimensional ones are flat, dull and lifeless. Even the colours chosen - muddy shades of gold, red, orange, and green - accented by black, are boring and monotonous.
Both the story and the illustrations are similar to those found in dime-store Golden Books and the more recent personalized books. The text even contains a spelling error. Definitely not worth the price.
Not recommended.
Gail Hamilton is a teacher-librarian at Bird's Hill School in East St. Paul, Manitoba.
To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.
Copyright © 1998 the Manitoba Library Association. Reproduction for personal use is permitted only if this copyright notice is maintained. Any other reproduction is prohibited without permission.
Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364
TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THIS ISSUE - JANUARY 2, 1998.
AUTHORS | TITLES | MEDIA REVIEWS | BOOKSHELF | BACK ISSUES | SEARCH | CMARCHIVE | HOME