BOOK REVIEW: Not-So-Lucky Lefty by Megan McDonald and Erwin Madrid

BOOK REVIEW: Not-So-Lucky Lefty by Megan McDonald and Erwin Madrid

Candlewick Press
March 2018
Hardcover, $19.99
Reviewed by Steph O’Connell

Beginner Readers / Fiction

7/10

Judy was feeling left out.
Judy wanted to be creative. Judy wanted to be a genius. Judy wanted to be a president. But most of all, Judy wanted to go with Stink and Dad on their Left Handers Day visit to the pretzel factory.

Mighty righty Judy Moody is out of her element in this righty-to-lefty switcheroo just right for newly independent readers.

Left-handers are creative. Left-handers are geniuses. Half of all cats are lefties! (Or so says Stink.) But Judy is a righty . . . and Judy is feeling left out. Tomorrow is Left Handers Day, and Stink and Dad, the southpaws in the Moody family, are celebrating at the pretzel factory. Judy is allowed to come along on one condition: she has to be left-handed — the whole entire day. It’s on!.

 

The Judy Moody and Friends series is a great way for younger or more reluctant readers to familiarise themselves with the Moody antics without feeling out of their depth in the full-length chapter books. The colourful illustrations and short chapters are bound to appeal, and the events are humorous and realistically something kids of the target age would get up to.

Not-So-Lucky Lefty features a realistic sibling dynamic and messages of perseverance, wrapped up with a nice, feel-good ending.

As is suggested by the title and the blurb, this would be a great book for young readers who are left-handed who are bound to feel under-represented, as well as a great way to explain some of the struggles that left-handed kids might go through when everything they see or do caters to right-handed people first, and left-handers as an afterthought.

This is a cute and fun little read with plenty of laughter, heart, and engagement for those still learning to read.

Category: Book Reviews, Other Reviews