Friday 18 October 2013

The Adventures of Tomato and Pea--Book Review.

The Adventures of Tomato and Pea
      Book 1: A Bad Idea

      By Erik Weibel

      Create Space, 2013








Back Cover:  For years the evil villain Wintergreen has tried to destroy super crime-stopper, Tomato, and his sidekick, Pea, and take over planet Oarg.  In a plan gone wrong, Wintergreen traps himself along with his arch-nemesis in a runaway rocket ship that crashes on a strange planet called “EAR-TH”.  Now these perennial enemies must learn to work together to survive the dangers on this strange world.  Hungry birds, enormous snakes and the giant inhabitants of EAR-TH stand between this brawling bunch of aliens and finding a way home.
About the Story:  Super-hero/O.L.E. agent Tomato wins an all-inclusive space cruise for himself and three companions, and asks his best friends: Pea, his sidekick; Skew, a cook; and Poppy Lobster, a mailman aboard the S.S. Poofy.  Unbeknown to Tomato , his nemesis, Wintergreen,  has set the whole thing up with the intention of sending Tomato and his gang into a black hole from which they can never return.  Things go wrong when Wintergreen and his crew get trapped in the S.S. Poofy, and everybody is hurled into space. The ship is out of control and soon on a crash course with the unknown planet called EAR-TH--a place called O-HI-O  to be exact.
What I thought: This is a wonderful adventure written by an eleven-year-old who is also a book reviewer at
 http://thiskidreviewsbooks.com/  Who better to write a middle grade book than someone who reads a bazillion middle grade books?
Erik's debut chapter book has imaginative and quirky characters who are a ton of fun to go on this adventure with. Most of the characters are 3 - 4 inch Smidges from the planet of Oarg, and some 10 inch Wardoes who are aliens trying to destroy Oarg. The villain, Wintergreen, is a blueish-green color Smidge, who wasn't always bad and at one time wanted to be a ballerina (that's hilarious!). The super-hero, Tomato, also a Smidge, is just plain likable and good--he even refuses to leave his nemesis behind when Wintergreen becomes trapped by a giant snake. Now, that's a super-hero!
All the characters are very well developed and convincing through their actions and reactions. The dialogue continuously moves the story forward and reveals more and more about the characters through 'showing' as the adventure progresses.
The theme of this adventure is very positive: good Smidges and bad Smidges must learn to co-operate and get along if they are to survive after their crash to EAR-TH.
The plotting is sound, creative, and original making this big adventure a page turner. I loved the humor, and the whole tone of the book. 
From a writing tutor's point of view, I think the author has done a great job overall.  My only suggestion would be to intertwine the prologue into the story instead of having it separate at the beginning.
From a children book writer's point of view, I think this is an original, quirky, and a well written adventure . Thank you for a great adventure, Erik!
About Erik Weibel    
                                                                                                            Eleven-year old Erik plans to take over the world. Right now he's a bit too young, so he is spending time as a sixth grade student, book reviewer blogger, and a hopeful writer. Visit Erik's incredible book review site here: This Kid Reviews Books 

Visit my author's website at: http://www.dragonsbook.com





10 comments:

  1. Thank ye, Lady Robinson, for thy fine review! And may all of thou days be... Okay. I give up. :) But anyway - I'm glad you liked T&P! :D I had a lot of fun writing about them! :D THANK YOU VERY MUCH!

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  2. Your very welcome, Sir Erik. You are a noble and honorable writer (bowing), and I hope to read many more adventures of Tomato and Pea.

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  3. Nice review. You missed the tour. What's up with that? Snarls keeping you from highlighting other characters?
    Erik did a great job with his first published book. I bet he has written others before this. They say, whoever "they" are, that practice makes perfect. The story isn't perfect, but it is very entertaining, and probably no book is perfectly perfect.
    You might make a reviewer yet, Ms. Writer, Tutor,Blogger and Friend.

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    1. I feel bad that I missed the tour. Sorry, Erik! I just had too many writing writy things on the go with my own book being released around the same time. The 3 months before and after a book release are just a whirling-dervish king of dance.

      You are right, I don't think any book is perfect, but the more a writer can draw the reader into the story with good characters and fun adventures, the less the reader notices the imperfections. Erik's book just may be the best book ever written by an eleven-year-old, which makes him a whole pile of years ahead of the rest of us.

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    2. Yep, he sure is. Such a lucky kid. I had no idea what I wanted at his age. He not only knows, he is already good at it. Yeah, he makes me turn green. :)

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    3. Green, like a pea? Haha. You're a pea.

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    4. I don't like peas. My dad would call them "little green baseballs" to get me to eat them. No go. Yuck. So I guess it is surprising I am even capable of becoming jealous, but I am (but more so about the number of comments he gets for every post he writes). (Damn teachers).

      My middle grade teachers don't comment on my page and pass it along. He does deserve it , I am proud of him, and he works hard (but not for next 2 months), but we started a month apart--still makes me green.

      "He" being Erik the Great and Wondrous Super-Kid and Supreme Parent-Published Author! (Super-Parents!)

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    5. I'm proud of Erik too. He's an inspiration to all the kids I talk to at author visits who want to become writers.

      Yeah, well, you get quite a few comments. The only comments I get are from my reviewer friends who doesn't like peas.

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  4. Maybe we need to start Twittering and Facebooking. Get you hooked up with Networked Blogs, and a couple other I cannot think of at the moment. I have been so busy that I forgot to keep building this blog.

    We need to get together and mark up a marketing plan for you. Not that I have tons of comments either, but I have noticed I can get 300 unique visitors and only 5 comments - from the usual gang. I don't remember if Blogspot tells you the number of visitors you get each day, but it WILL get better.

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    1. I do go on Twitter, Linkedin, Google+, Facebook, Pinterest. Yes, if you have more ideas on what to do, please let me know. I do get between 70 - 119 page hits per day, though, but not many comments besides from my trustworthy friend, The Dragon Lover. God bless her soul.

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