Customer Reviews

Slinky Malinki

5 star:		(35)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Ignore the School Book Journal review above. This is a great little book! I have read it many times to my son and he's always riveted. I like the book, the word play, the way things work out in it. I would recommend it to anyone.

I don't understand why the SLJ critic panned this adorable book, either. My daughter, now 3 has had this story and now most of Lynley Dodd's stories read to her and she loves them. We got it in England for her when she was just 2 and she asked for it every night for a year. I love the cat, Slinky, as well as the other characters Dodd writes about (Hairy McClairy the dog and the neighborhood bully cat, Scar-face Claw). I love the stories and the illustrations but what matters most is my daughter, who isn't short of a few books, goes back again and again to these stories. They pass the kid test!

Lynley Dodd fans may know Slinky Malinki as one of the cats that gets chased in HAIRY MACLARY SCATTERCAT. In this book we learn all about the midnight-black cat with the kink in the end of its tail.

Slinky is a nice cat as long as the sun is shining. But once the sun goes down and the night darkens, he prowls the neighborhood as a literal cat burglar. Nothing is safe as the feline rapscallion makes off with whatever he wants. Then one night he goes too far and steals far more than usual. Slinky gets caught by his family and is eternally shamed.

This is an interesting book and rather different from the Hairy MacLary books. This tail offers an example of rehabilitation. Having been caught and shamed, the cat refuses to give in to the desire to steal at night. They say a leopard can not change its spots but this cat definitely does. Check it out.

I'm 18 and a freshman in college and I was read this book all the time when I was a kid. I still love it. After a discussion about children's books, I remembered how much I'd loved this particular book and came to Amazon to buy a copy.

The SLJ review made me sad. I read all the time as a young child. I was a strong reader before even starting kindergarten and spent at least six days of the week at the library. I can't remember the huge majority of books I've read, but this one stands out to me. I adored this book as a child and it made enough of an impression on me to come looking for it 14 years later.

This is one of my favorite "Hairy Maclary" books. My toddler and I just love it. It's about a cat named Slinky Malinki who is "blacker than black, a stalking and lurking adventurous cat". Note the rhyme. The text is a poem, a really cute (but not too cute)poem. Think of T.S. Eliot for very young children. During the day, Slinky Malinki is a "cheeky and cheerful" cat who chases after leaves and rolls in the sun. But at night he turns into (gasp!) a thief. He steals knick-knacks from the neighbors. One night he steals rather more than usual, gets caught, and ends up "in disgrace". As I've said before (see my review of HAIRY MACLARY, SIT), the whole of the "Hairy Maclary" books is greater than the sum of their parts. So while this is an extremely well-told story with very good illustrations, the best part of it (for me, at least) is seeing Slinky Malinki, who is usually a peripheral character, take center stage.

I join the other parents in befuddlement over the SLJ review. "Workmanlike" -- is she kidding? Our daughter, nearly 2, loves this book, which is good because it's one of my favorites to read to her. The language is lively, snappy, and musical -- several cuts above the excruciatingly dull language in many children's books. No mystery why our daughter can recite whole chunks of "Slinky Malinki" from memory. I'm eager to check out more of Lynley Dodd's books.

My 18 month old has loved this since she received it as a gift for Christmas at 12 months. We read it like it is a Dr. Seuss rhyme and it is so much fun. She laughs when Slinky Malinky gets all tangled up and says UH OH - that's a No No when he takes things that aren't his. We read it everyday!

I too, have no idea why the School Library Journal would write such a negative review. Please ignore theirs, and buy this book! My nephews own it, and while taking care of them, I fell in love with it, too. I now have it memorized (due to the repeated telling), and will recite it to them while we're driving in the car. The boys follow along, and enjoy the rhyms and the imagery. The older one of the boys has even picked up on the underlying theme; that taking another's property is wrong. A fabulous book! I highly recommend it!

My daughter got this book when she was 3 years old and she still remembers all the words. This well-loved book won't make it to another child. I never knew that there were more Slinky Malinki books until I found this one online. I will definitely buy those ones also.

My daughter is 17 years old and I can STILL recite this charming story from memory, and so can she! (Does that tell you how many times we read it aloud?) Full of rich, colorful vocabulary that is all-too-often absent in children's books, all of Lynley Dodd's books are winners in my opinion. Slinky Malinki was our first; we collected all the others we could find afterwards. I even searched for Slinky Malinki online years later when it was out of print so that I could give it as a gift. I promise you and your children will treasure this book.