Thumb Love written and illustrated by Elise Primavera is a story about a girl named Lulu who has a bad habit. Lulu loves to suck her thumb. She loves to suck her thumb everyday and everywhere she goes. Many people around Lulu do not understand why she still sucks her thumb. Her parents, grandmother, and other family members all comment on how she is too old to be sucking her thumb. She is even made fun of by other kids because of her thumb sucking. Lulu sees no problem with it until one night she has a bad dream about the consequences of thumb sucking. The next morning Lulu declares that she will stop sucking her thumb even though her thumb protested this idea. Lulu comes up with a 12-step program that anyone who is trying to stop sucking there thumb can follow. Her program also includes many tricks that you can try to dissuade you from sucking your thumb. The main thing that Lulu stresses in her program is that it is not easy to quit and you will sometimes fail, but the important thing is to keep on trying.
This book is very funny and witty. The book starts off with Lulu admitting to other people that she has a problem. It is a very clever play off of how many self-help meetings start off. The 12-step program to stop sucking your thumb is a very clever addition to the story. The author does a good job of providing advice along with humor. What I also found to be very clever about this book was the incorporation of the word bubbles. With the word bubbles she was able to bring life to thumb. The author especially did a good job of conveying the message that sometimes it is hard to accomplish your goals and sometimes you may fail, but that does not mean you stop trying. Instead you keep trying and trying until you succeed. I think that this is a wonderful message because for some kids it will be a challenge to stop doing things that sucking their thumb, and sometimes they just need some encouragement and to now that it is okay to experience some setbacks.
The illustrations were also very well done. I really liked the variation in size of the illustrations. Sometime the page just had small separate illustrations and other times the illustrations would take up the whole page. The illustrations were very cartoon like and they just really brought life to the story. The text and the illustrations were also integrated very well with one another. On some pages there would be a simple illustration bordering the text. Overall, the illustrations and the text worked very well with one another.
I think children will love this book. It is a great book for children who may be trying to kick the habit of sucking their thumb and for those children who have already kicked the habit. It is recommended for children ages 4-8. This book is very relatable and the approach the topic is done in a very child-like manner. I think that adults will also enjoy this book and even find themselves laughing at times.
La'Toya
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