This book. What to say about this book. Before the text even begins there is a beautiful full-page illustration of a field with trees along the edges and hay bales on a hill, with a little dog running in the distance. I was about 1/3 of the way into the story before I started getting invested. I didn't like the exaggerated way the main character, Johannes, counted things in hundreds and thousands that couldn't possibly be so and I didn't like his cry of "ha ha hoooo!"

But this story is meant for children, which I am not. I think the numbers thing fits with the way kids see the world, and how if something is a lot, it's really a lot, and might as well be hundreds or thousands. My struggle is that when Johannes said he had been around for hundreds of years I'm thinking that dogs don't live that long. I am just too grown up to easily get past it.

As for the "ha ha hoooo!", I didn't like it because Johannes is a dog, and "ha ha hoo" seemed like a strange sound for a dog, or a mangling of a laugh, and I just couldn't wrap my head around it. However, towards the end of the book there's a reveal that makes it make sense, and suddenly it didn't bother me anymore.

Once I got through that first 1/3 and started getting invested in the story, I got really invested. The plot kept taking so many unexpected, yet related turns that it was hard to put it down. And throughout the book there were more beautiful painting-like illustrations. There was humor and heart in the story.

And when I show more turned the final page there was "A Note About The Art." All of the illustrations are classic landscape paintings, changed only slightly by the illustrator, Shawn Harris, to add Johannes to each landscape. There's a list of each painting by page number, giving the original artist, title, and which museum owns the original. As an art lover, that rocketed this book even higher in my esteem. show less

I found this book very informational. I learned a lot about ancient southwest Asian religion and the history of early Christianity.

This book was enchanting. I saw that several reviewers gave it low marks because several things weren't explained. But I think the not-knowing is an integral part to the story. We often don't know why things happen, and just have to learn how to go on. Despite leaving some things unexplained the core character arc is completed and the story doesn't feel unfinished.

It reminds me of classic science fiction short stories.

Mythical, spiritual, Christianity

It had a lot of new information, unfortunately it was a slog to read. It needed more editing before going to print. It's full of spelling, grammar, and printing errors that sometimes left me wondering what the author was actually trying to say.

I love a fairy tale told from a new angle and this is definitely that! I recommend this book for any kids who get teased about their name or worry about growing too slowly. They will especially relate to the main character, called Rump, who stopped growing at age 8.

An absolutely sweet tale. The chapters are perfectly spaced for kids just starting on chapter books.