Customer Reviews

The Curious Child

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

The Curious Child by Donyell Floyd tells the fascinating short children's story of a young boy in a small village; and it seems that this young boy can't ever stop asking questions. What we learn from this book is an important lesson about life; and the illustrations are very nicely done as well.

When the story begins, we read of a young boy who asks questions about life--a whole lot of questions! "What makes the water wet?" "Why doesn't the sky fall?" are just two examples of the kind of questions this young boy asks. Well, eventually the adults in the village grow rather tired of answering and tolerating all these questions from the child; and they send him off to a wise old dragon on the island who can answer his questions--and get him to stop asking so many questions in the future.

But there's a surprise. The dragon had grown cranky and downright mean in his old age; and he no longer was the same. The young curious boy, with two people alongside him to escort him to the dragon, quickly realize that the dragon is going to eat them all for being bothered by their presence.

The dragon, however, does give the young boy a chance to escape death. He tells the young boy that he can ask him three questions--and if the dragon can't answer just one of the three questions he will let the boy and his two escorts go free.

Naturally, the boy outwits the dragon--he asks how many numbers are there! The dragon seems stupefied by the question; and to this day he can be heard counting numbers long after he let the young child and his escorts go free.

The thing I love about this beautiful children's book is that the child learns you can never ask too many questions. This is important for the development of critical thought and knowledge. In addition, there is also the message that no question is silly or stupid; they all have equal merit. How wonderful!

The book is embellished by beautiful illustrations by Grethel Peralta; and this makes the book even more special.

Overall, I highly recommend this book for children ages 9 through 12. They will love this book. If you can sit with your child while they read this book it will stimulate important conversations about the importance of questions, critical thought, and tolerance of the thirst for knowledge every child has.

I believe almost all parents at times wish their children would not ask so many questions. Perhaps it is because we understand that we really don't know as much as we would like to believe we do. In this enlightening book by Donni Floyd we meet a young boy who has questions about everything that he asked everyone. At first all the people tried to answer his questions, but when he seemed to never stop asking they became quite annoyed. What were they to do?
A decision was made to send him to the ancient dragon that lived on top of the biggest mountain on the island. They hoped perhaps the dragon could cast a spell on the young boy to stop his curiosity. There was a problem however. They did not know that the dragon had become mean over the years. Sure enough when the dragon saw the little boy he told him he was going to eat him and his two friends as well.
Thinking quickly the little boy told the dragon why he was there and made a deal. one, that if the little boy won, his life and the life of his friends would be spared. What do you think happens?
"The Curious Child," is a great learning book. It teaches children it is alright to ask questions, but helps them to understand that not all questions have answers. The illustrations are great, even though they are not in color, this seemed to enhance the read and the location the story was written in. A very nice book, one your child and you will enjoy.

Is there such a thing as too many questions?

For one young boy, the youngest child on an island in the middle of the sea, the answer is no. For the other villagers, who are pestered night and day by the curious child who will not stop asking questions, the answer doesn't matter!

Fed up with the constant questions - "Why is water wet?", "Why doesn't the sky fall?" - the natives decide to take the boy to the ancient dragon who lives on top of the biggest mountain, in hopes that he can cure the boy of his endless curiosity and neverending questions.

What the villagers don't know is that the dragon has become mean with all of the years spent alone, and it's only through the boy's quick thinking that he and his companions don't end up as the dragon's dinner.

THE CURIOUS CHILD is a cute, quick fable that teaches children that curiosity, although a virtue, does have its limits. But I agree that there is no such thing as too many questions!

Reviewed by: Jennifer Wardrip, aka "The Genius"

"The Curious Child" is a story about a young boy who can't help asking questions. He asks questions about everything, like "Why do birds fly?" and "Why are the stars so far away?" His parents try to satisfy his curiosity, but they can't answer all his questions. Neither can all the people who live in his village.

So, his parents, along with the villagers, decide to send the boy to the top of the biggest mountain on the island where he lives. They hope the Old One can put some type of magic spell on the boy to "put an end to all those silly questions." The boy is sent on his journey with two villagers as escorts.

By the time they come to the foot of the great mountain, it is late and the two escorts are tired of the boy's constant chatter. They build a fire and settle in for the night. The boy can't fall asleep because he has so many questions floating around in his head.

The boy is startled when the big dragon finds him by the campfire. His escorts are still sleeping and they don't hear the dragon approach, nor do they hear the dragon speak. The dragon wants to know who the boy is. Because the dragon is so big and so fierce-looking, the boy is rendered speechless - but just for a moment. He recovers enough to say, "My people sent me to you for your great wisdom. . . I-I-I ask too many questions, you see. Maybe you could give me a magic spell s-so I can stop asking so many."

The dragon laughs and says, "Your people are foolish! There's no such thing as too many questions and I'll prove it to you." He strikes a deal with the boy. The boy is allowed to ask three questions; if the dragon can't answer every one of them, the dragon will let them go free.

The boy outwits the dragon; I won't tell you how. And, in the end we learn it is okay to ask questions - - you can never ask too many of them.

Although I liked the story, I must give you a heads-up about something. If you're expecting the inside illustrations to be in color, you will be disappointed. Except for the front and back cover, all the illustrations are done in black and white. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just a bit unexpected. 4 stars.

This book is unique and thought provoking. My son and daughter loved it! It is nice to read something outside of the box.

Donni Floyd's first children's picture book is one all parents should read to their children. The story is about a little boy who always has a question about the workings of the world around him. The small village in which he lives doesn't seem to cut short his curiosity. In fact, the boy seems to become more and more curious as time passes. Finally his parents and all the villagers are out of answers to the boy's persistent questions.

The wisest of the village suggest taking the boy to see the Old One, who just happens to be a dragon living in a cave up on the mountain above the village. As the small group taking the boy to the Old One sleep, the dragon sneaks up on them, and it is the curiosity of the young boy that saves them.

Overall I like The Curious Child. I did notice some formatting errors due to the book being self published; extra white spaces mostly. The illustrations are done in black and white, helping to highlight only the important parts of each scene. Floyd does a wonderful job encouraging school-aged children to ask question and to seek answers.

The Curious Child is a flat-spined, softcover children's picturebook about a young island boy who asks so many questions it drives his fellow villagers crazy. Finally they tell him to seek wisdom from the mighty old dragon - but the dragon happens to be hungry, and with a taste for young boys! The dragon challenges the boy to ask it three questions; if it can answer all three, it gets to eat people for lunch! Only the boy's ingenuity and curiosity can save himself and the village. Black-and-white illustrations enhance this charming picturebook about the positive side of having a curious and inquisitive mind.

"The Curious Child" tells the story of a young boy living in a small village on an island. The boy has questions for everything. His incessant need to know everything annoys the people so they send him off to seek a magical dragon. They hope that the dragon will have some magic to stop the boy's questions. So off he goes to see the dragon. The dragon isn't so nice anymore, and tries to the trick the boy into becoming a meal for him. The boy has to be quick on his toes to outsmart the dragon.
I loved this story. I found that there were two big messages in it. The first one was for children. The message is that it is okay to ask lots of questions so that you can learn. The second message is for parents. The message tells them that not only is it okay to for children to ask questions, it is important that they do so to become educated. "The Curious Child" is a fun tale that is sure to generate lots of questions!

This book is Excellent!! My little girl loves it and won't let it go. Great story and illustrations that can defintely get a busy child's attention..

I thought this book was OK. But it didn't really stand out as a great children's book. The concept for the book was wonderful. But the text was nothing special. And though the pictures were good, I think there should have been twice as many and color would have helped, too.

The opening page was heavy on text and light on an inspiring picture. A children's book, just like most other story books and speeches, should start off with a bang. They all need a hook to get the readers' attention. This book just didn't have that.

Pages 2 and 3 had four paragraphs each. In my humble opinion the book could have benefited greatly by making each paragraph of text a separate page with its own illustration. And I second this complaint for the pages that follow page 5, too.

I loved the illustration on page 5 where the dragon came up behind the young boy and all you see is the dragon's head and the boy with his back turned to the dragon. More pages like this one would have improved the book greatly. 3 stars!