I am honored and thrilled to be the first to review Any Klein’s newest book, The Fantastic Adventures of Oliver Phenomena: Oliver and the Little Bigfoot! This is the third book in the Oliver Phenomena series, and if this series sounds familiar to you, it could be because the second book in this series, Oliver and the Little Ghost, was the very first review I wrote for this blog back in October 2017. Check it out here: https://eugeniachu.com/2017/10/27/review-of-the-fantastic-adventures-of-oliver-phenomena-oliver-and-the-little-ghost/. I also introduced you to Andy shortly thereafter, which you can see here, if you are interested in learning more about him: https://eugeniachu.com/2017/10/27/meet-author-andy-klein/.
Now, back to my review of Oliver and the Little Bigfoot:
Young Oliver, a boy who has a special ability to see and interact with the paranormal or supernatural, is back in this charming story where he goes camping with his dad and meets a young Bigfoot, named Squatch. Oliver loves camping with his dad and everything is made more fun with Squatch by his side helping him at every step. Oliver’s dad never sees Squatch and is puzzled that Oliver is able to gather so much wood so quickly and catch so many fish all by himself, but never questions Oliver. Squatch watches over Oliver and his dad and even saves them from falling down a waterfall!
I enjoyed this book for the same reasons I adored Book 2 – Oliver and the Little Ghost. Not only is it a wonderful story that is easy to read and understand for kids of all ages, but it has an underlying message addressing friendship and diversity. Like in Book 2, this story shows children (and adults too!) that you can become friends with anyone who is kind and caring, no matter how they look or where they are from. The fact that Squatch was not the same as Oliver, made no difference in his decision to become friends with him. I am (as I am sure most parents are) always telling my son that it doesn’t matter how a person looks on the outside, it’s whether they are a good person that matters. This story delivers this message without being outright and preachy.
In addition, the illustrations in this book, by Ronaldo Florendo, are beautiful and colorful and help the reader visualize the events in the story. Children and their parents/caregivers/teachers will enjoy reading this book together.
Please note that since I am not sure I received the final version of this book, I am not commenting on possible typos like punctuation and capitalization, etc. My review is just on the story, which is super cute!
If you are interested in this book, there is a direct link to Amazon in the menu column on the left towards the bottom. Please note that I am an Amazon affiliate which means if you buy anything through my site, I get a very small kickback at no cost to you.