Reviewed By Jack Magnus for Readers’ Favorite
This Book Is Marvelous Reading
This book is marvelous reading that will make kids feel good about themselves and realize that different is not necessarily a bad thing to be. Mike Motz’s illustrations are fabulous. They’re bold and bright and perfectly fit Jimmy Vee’s text.
Little Jimmy Says, “Same Is Lame” is a book that will inspire kids to go out and have fun being themselves while they’re learning to read at the same time. The story is easy to follow and the pictures will help kids guess at unfamiliar words in the text. Little Jimmy is phenomenal and this book is, too.
Official OnlineBookClub.org review
Inspiring Book For Kids!
This is a cute children’s book that centers on the theme of self-acceptance & self-image. This short, but poignant book, focuses on motivating children to embrace their differences and their unique personalities.
There are many books out there that teach kids to accept others, but not enough books that teach kids to appreciate themselves. Kudos to the author for that! My son enjoyed the story and was captured by the pictures. The awesome illustrations fit the text like a glove. I would certainly recommend this book as an inspiring book for kids!
The Children’s Book Review
Parents Will Love Sharing This Book With Their Children
As a children’s entertainer, Jimmy Vee has combined his love for kids and passion of children’s books in his rhyming picture book by using his “Same Is Lame” philosophy—a philosophy that is all about self-acceptance and knowing it’s okay to be different, as well as embracing the differences of others.
It’s ironic and exactly to the point that the protagonist, Little Jimmy, small as his name suggests, has such a large idea to convey. The charivari text is zippy with solid cadence and delivers in a super kid-friendly way. Set to the scene of a circus—the perfect backdrop to a world of oddities and zaniness—the illustrations are eye-catching and add loads of entertainment to the text. They raise the humor level and add an intelligently safe amount of light-heartedness to the deeper message of embracing one’s unique qualities—it’s clear that the illustrator, Mike Motz, understood Vee’s vision.
This is a book geared toward 4-to 8-years-olds and more than suitable for all ages—grown-ups, too. Parents will love the idea of sharing this book with their children, encouraging them to spend less time trying to fit in and more time focusing on being true to themselves. “Same is Lame!”
Kirkus Reviews
Readers Will Be Drawn To This Book
In this children’s celebration of diversity, 5-foot-tall marketing expert Vee shows children that their differences can also be their strengths.
Little Jimmy, the author’s cartoon stand-in, is “unusually small,” but he doesn’t mind. “Each person is different,” he assures young readers, before going on to share how being short, tall, bespectacled, big, bald, large-nosed or scarred can be beneficial in life. He also highlights learned skills: “I can talk without moving my lips. / That’s what makes me a ventriloquist! / It is a thing that most people can’t do… / And something that makes me unusual too.” The book also touches on race as a quality that can make readers unique, although this aspect isn’t emphasized.
The cartoonish illustrations show a multiethnic cast of various sizes and shapes, as befits the narrative, and Motz’s art style is sure to appeal to young readers. Although the rhymes are occasionally clunky,they flow well when read aloud. The book includes a page for young readers to write down “what’s unique about you,” and uses some vocabulary words, such as “ventriloquist” and “exploit,” clearly enough in context that independent readers should be able to gather their meanings. The book also encourages readers to learn about Vee’s Same Is Lame Foundation, at the author’s website.
Lap readers and independent readers alike will be drawn to this book’s cartoonish illustrations and inclusive message.