Review: Scarecrow Finds a Friend

Summary: This heartening tale involves Tally, a good witch, who is losing her power to fly. She befriends a Scarecrow and he comes up with a plan to save her flying power. Together they are able to get back Tally's flying power, express their gratitude to each other, and give young readers a few surprises along the way. The story illustrates to children how comforting and rewarding a good friendship can be as well as how much fun it is to solve a problem with the help of someone who cares about them. -- Whirlpool Press

I am writing my review of SCARECROW FINDS A FRIEND immediately after reading it to my four year old son. I am just so excited about this book because he absolutely loved it. I have to agree with him -- it was a really cute story. Everything about this book was terrific -- from the story to the artwork to the message. It is such a cute little story about the friendship between a scarecrow and a witch. I love how it teaches children about friendship -- that good friends are there to support each other.

This is the first children's book written by Blume J. Rifken, and it's a great first effort. The book's story held the attention of my son -- this isn't true of every book! There were enough little exciting twists to keep him glued to the story. In addition, he was very interested in finding out whether the witch would be able to fly or not! I just adored this book, and I am very much looking forward to future children's books by Ms. Rifken!

The illustrations by Carl W. Wenzel are just beautiful too. Fall is my favorite season, and this book just captured the look and feel of Halloween and Thanksgiving perfectly. I especially loved the color schemes with all the browns, oranges and purples! My son took the time to check out each page -- the pictures definitely helped convey the story to him. I thought that the artwork was an ideal complement to the story.

SCARECROW FINDS A FRIEND is for children between the ages of four and eight. My son was a little young for it, but he really did like the pictures and understand the plot. He also enjoyed that the story takes place during Halloween and Thanksgiving -- he started talking about trick-or-treating and what he wants to be for Halloween as we were reading it. I think if he were a bit older, he would have appreciated the message more -- that friends take turns helping each other; but we did talk about it and I'm sure he'll start grasping that in the very near future. And since he really, really liked the book, I am sure that we will be reading this book (a lot.)