Wesley Raccoon Series Review

Welcome to the April 28th stop on the blog tour for the Wesley Raccoon series by Michelle Porter, organized by Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for spotlights, reviews, author guest/interview posts, and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.

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The Old Man in the Houseboat

Wesley Raccoon
The Old Man in the Houseboat
by Michelle Porter

Published 5 November 2019
Tellwell Talent

Page Count: 23
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This story is about a shy little raccoon who overcomes his fear of meeting new people. Join Wesley Raccoon on his travels through the streets of Amsterdam to find out how The Old Man In The Houseboat becomes his new best friend.

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Excerpt

Wesley is afraid of strangers, they always try to chase him away. He was very careful not to be seen, hiding in between the flowers on the streets and behind the garbage in alleyways.

He was starting to get tired from his long morning of searching for food and keeping out of sight when he noticed the brightly coloured boats docked along the canal.

Wesley loves boats, especially colourful ones! There were lots of bright coloured boats gently bobbing up and down in the canal water. There were big boats and small, old boats and new, but what caught his eye was an old houseboat nestled just past the weeping willow tree on the other side of the canal. He scurried over to get a closer look.

My Review

My Rating: 4 Stars
Consider liking my review on Goodreads.

I was granted complimentary access to Wesley Raccoon: The Old Man in the Houseboat as part of my participation in a blog tour for this title with Goddess Fish Promotions. Thank you to all involved! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.

This installment of Wesley Raccoon follows the curious little raccoon through the market streets of Amerstdam and out to the water where he makes friends with an old man who lives on a house boat. It’s a cute story about exploring the area and finding joy in friendship and the little things. The story is cute, a little more complex than a lot of picture books at this length, and should be appealing to kids in the kindergarten/primary grade age range.

This illustrations appear to be pen and watercolour and they’re quite cute. While clearly executed by someone with significant practise painting in the medium, the drawing style is more juvenile in a whimsical way. The more artistically inclined young readers in the target audience may be inspired to copy from this book, and the style is one they could achieve, which would be so validating to a bidding little artist!

My one complaint is that while whoever did the formatting for this book clearly did try to make the text contrast enough over the artwork, as many pages feature the text in a semi-transparent box, it doesn’t contrast enough. Anywhere a black letter overlaps with black lines or darker colours of the illustrations it becomes more difficult to separate the letter from what’s behind it.

Captain John’s Social

Wesley Raccoon
Captain John’s Social
by Michelle Porter

Published 17 November 2020
Tellwell Talent

Page Count: 32
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This inspiring story of friendship captures the importance of spending time with friends throughout our life. Join Wesley Raccoon and The Old Man in the Houseboat on their adventures through Vondelpark, and learn how Captain John’s Social gathers a unique circle of true friends.

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My Review

My Rating: 3.5 Stars
Consider liking my review on Goodreads.

I was granted complimentary access to Wesley Raccoon: Captain John’s Social as part of my participation in a blog tour for this title through Goddess Fish Promotions. Thank you to all involved! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.

A sequel to The Old Man in the Houseboat, Wesley Raccoon: Captain John’s Social follows Welsey and his friend, the old man from the houseboat, as they bike through Amsterdam, have a picnic in the park, and make lots of new friends in the park throughout the day.

Unlike the previous Welsey Raccoon book where Wesley encounters the problem of the market being closed (or at leas the stall he wanted to visit was) and thus goes exploring elsewhere which leads him to meet his new friend, this one doesn’t seem to have a plot. It’s just a chronological presentation of the events that took place on a pleasant afternoon out. This combined with the fact that some pages are just large blocks of text means my preschooler and myself got bored at parts, and it didn’t feel like as quick of a read as the previous book despite being almost the same page count.

As I said in my review for the previous book, I think the art style is great for the target age range. It’s colourful, whimsical, and juvenile enough that an artistically inclined kid who wants to copy the illustrations could practise and likely achieve it. The pictures are cute and have lots going on, which means they’ll hold interest, and that’s exactly what picturebook illustrations are supposed to do!

About the Author

As a mother to four grown boys, Michelle is passionate about writing captivating children’s stories on the importance of social acceptance, kindness and life lessons. Her books focus on friendship, love and self-awareness blossoming in a world that children understand.

Her warm-hearted approach to writing and whimsical use of watercolor illustrations connect with young creative minds, inspiring children of all ages. The message she coveys is simple yet powerful: “When we release our fear of the unknown and our preconceived notions, we free our hearts to find true friends, to love, and to grow.”

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Giveaway Alert!

Michelle Porter will be awarding a $15 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.

Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.