Book Review- The Legend of Papa Balloon by CR McClure

Hmmm I must have a thing for balloons lately. Here is second ebook I've received from netgalley this week. The Legend of Papa Balloon is about a land where people worship The Light. Each village expresses their reverence of the Light through a particular color of balloon. A group of children come upon an old man sleeping under a tree. He has a clear balloon under his hat and says people call him Papa. The children call him Papa Balloon. He becomes friends with everyone and in the end he and his clear balloon teach all of the villages that no one color is better than the other and that they are all of the Light.


OK this wasn't a bad book but it is a bit complicated. It was too complicated for my 5 year old son. But as some of you know he has a severe learning disability so that can play into this. For other children this may be easier for them to read and understand. My son enjoyed the illustrations, but he walked away after only a few pages. I loved the color changing ink. This book is obviously about tolerance. One of the biggest problems I had with the book quite honestly is that the children befriend an old man who is a stranger and bring him essentially home with them. I know it is just fiction but I don't think telling kids its ok to bring home that shoeless bearded guy, who was sleeping under a tree and calls himself Papa is a good idea. Stranger Danger.


As I said all in all it wasn't a bad book it just wasn't as good as it could be. I would say that I have it at a solid 2 stars. I think it does a good job with promoting tolerance (especially religious tolerance). With just a little work I think it could easily become a 3 or 4 star book.