Goat Tails are a series of stories all about life on our family farm in Manitowaning. Join with us as we share the entertaining and crazy antics of all the critters that occupied that farm… especially the goats.
Welcome to one of the December 1st stops on the blog tour for SuperScruff by P. Lynn Halliday with Goddess Fish Promotions. Be sure to follow the rest of the tour for seven more reviews and a giveaway! More on that at the end of this post.
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About the Book
SuperScruff
by P. Lynn Halliday
Illustration by Jupiters Muse
Published 17 August 2021
Tellwell Talent
Genre: Children’s Fiction
Page Count: 46
Add it to your Goodreads TBR!
Goat Tails are a series of stories all about life on our family farm in Manitowaning. Join with us as we share the entertaining and crazy antics of all the critters that occupied that farm . . . especially the goats.
In our second book, Scruffy the kid arrives back from his BIG adventure. The lost had been found, but would he be welcomed or was it Pen Prison for him again? Scruffy had been in trouble so many times in the past that he began to have doubts. Sure the Maker loved him . . . but did everyone else?
Imagine his surprise when he was greeted at the fence by a churning, hopping, squawking sea of excitement, all straining to get a look at him! Wow, he was a superstar!
It suddenly struck him: now he knew for sure what his purpose was. He was made to be super . . . the super, duper hopping hero of the barnyard!
SuperScruff, the fearless leader of the Scruffkids!
“Oh no,” bleated Nellie Nanny, “here we go again!”
Truer words have never been spoken: Scruffy was at it again. Join the fun as SuperScruff learns how to be truly Super!
Currently FREE in Kindle eBook format (month of December 2021)
Amazon US | Amazon CA | Amazon UK | BD | B&N
Excerpt
Scruffy looked around him, searching for the perfect way to show just how Super he was. He spied a ladder leaning against the side of the barn. Papa had been using that ladder to paint the window frames in the loft of the barn. He gazed up to the top of the ladder and an idea began to form. What if he climbed the ladder into the loft of the barn? Surely if he hopped the length of the barn and leapt out of the window, he would be able to fly clear over Poop Hill. It was probably 20 or 30 feet. This was far enough away that no one could claim that he did it only by hopping. They would think he was flying, just like he said he could. This would be the perfect demo to show his Super-Powers.
Calling everyone over, he told them that the barrel-jumping earlier was just a warm-up for the real event. Now he was going to show everyone how Super he was by flying over Poop Hill. Everyone quickly looked at the poop pile. It was a ten-foot-high stinking, steaming pile of poop… way too huge to hop over. Even Hobby had to admit that if Scruffy managed to pull off this stunt, he was really SuperScruff!
My Review
My Rating: 3.5 Stars
Consider liking my review on Goodreads
I was granted complimentary access to SuperScruff as part of my participation in a blog tour for this title with Goddess Fish Promotions. Thank you to all involved in affording me this opportunity! My thoughts are my own and my review is honest.
SuperScruff is a mini chapter book all about a little goat named Scruff and what he gets up to after returning home to the farm from his latest adventure. At first he’s worried that his friends will be scared of him and worry about his experiences while away, but when they’re curious and excited to hear what he did he realizes he’s actually pretty special in there eyes. Super, in fact! But his newfound “super” identity goes to his head and he has to learn to balance his new confidence and self-imposed protector roll with also being a kind, responsible member of the farm family.
This book is bookended at the beginning and end with biblical quotes and sections of text that outline important factors in the moral themes of the storytelling are bolded (but not until page 14, so the sudden start of bold text felt weird) so this is clearly meant to be a Sunday school metaphorical lesson in morality and community membership for a young audience. I must admit I wasn’t expecting walls of text in chapter form from a square format picture book with less than 50 pages and I’m wondering if parents and teachers browsing online stores for books for their kids and classrooms might misidentify the target age group of this book.
With that said, this is a very cute and entertaining story once you adjust your expectations (present it to the correct audience) and I think it will be very well received in its niche. It’s an interesting format, and I think we actually need to see more books like this that give kids a transitional chapter book experience. This looks like the square picture books kids are used to entering the grade 1-2 reading range but gives them the length and complexity of books they’ll be expected to read in grade 2-3.
This illustration work is cute if a little simplistic. It’s one of those styles where the adults reading along will wonder if stylistic choices were made or if the artist was asked to draw subject matter they’re not familiar with, but kids will just see cute animals and be quite happy with it.
About the Author
Lynn is a wife, a mother, a grandmother, a pharmacist, a storyteller and a Christian, living and working in Northern Ontario. Life on the farm has helped each member of our family to grow in so many different ways. Perhaps the most profound growth has been spiritual, as we have all marvelled while working on our farm at the amazing world that our loving God has made. How wonderful it is that God designed each person and critter for a special purpose—no mistakes and no misfits.
Website | Facebook | Instagram | Goodreads
Giveaway Alert!
P. Lynn Halliday will be awarding a $10 Amazon or Barnes & Noble gift card to a randomly drawn winner via rafflecopter during the tour.
a Rafflecopter giveaway| Dec 1 | Westveil Publishing | Fabulous and Brunette |
| Dec 8 | Lisa’s Reading | Andi’s Kids Books |
| Dec 15 | Our Town Book Reviews | Gina Rae Mitchell |
| Dec 29 | Sandra’s Book Club | The Reading Addict |
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.
Thanks for hosting!
Nice to meet you, Lynn! Congratulations on your recent release of SuperScruff! I enjoyed the excerpt and your book sounds like an excellent read for the kids and I can’t wait to share it with them! Thanks for sharing it with me and good luck with your book and the tour! Thanks Westveil Publishing for sharing your review! Have a spectacular holiday season!
Thanks…Westveil Publishing for reviewing SuperScruff! As indicated in the review, the Goat Tails books are a bit of an unusual format…designed for parents to read to their children but also as a “first” chapter book! It is my hope that these books will appeal to many age groups. The introduction of a scripture reference identifies the book as having a “lesson” to share. Book 1 – Scruffy finds his way shares that the Maker loves us no matter what we do, while the lesson in SuperScruff shares that there is an alternative to the modern view of being Super that we need to learn…that of being a servant/ friend to others.
Great excerpt and giveaway!
cute cover
This sounds like a wonderful book.
The cover is adorable! My grandson would love this book.
Thanks so much- I really like the pictures that my illustrator did!! They make Scruffy come alive… but the best part is the story… Scruffy is so much like many children- full of mischief and lots of actions before thought… anyone you know that is like that???