Hardcover w/CD
48 pages
Mar 2007
Tommy Nelson

Review  |   Author Bio  |  Read an Excerpt

Review:

In case you don’t know
How clever beavers can be
You need to read Phil’s book
‘Bout beavers on the sea.

Forty-seven to be exact
Run away from Trapper Stu
The problems they encounter:
Sharks and storms on the Big Big Blue. . .

The 47 beavers quickly learn they need to work together or they’ll never survive. When a shark wants them for dinner, they think fast:

Ninety four big beaver teeth flashed out from the boat
One old shark was so surprised his heart jumped in his throat.
‘Never mind,’ he muttered, as he vanished in the blue
‘It’s no fun bitin’ dinner if your dinner’s bitin’ you.’

The illustrations remind me of a cartoon, Dexter, my children watched in the early nineties. Chapman’s bright colors and simple geometrical shapes capture the action in a distilled manner. Children will howl when seeing a multitude of beaver tails propelling the boat to shore!

Readers might want to practice this book ahead of time if reading aloud to an audience. Some of the phrasing is a bit cumbersome, and a few words like “pedicurist” probably won’t be recognized by small children. Even still, the message of Ecclesiastes 4:9,10 rings strong throughout this fable: “Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other."

I’d say that’s a great message for families today, even if it does come from beavers! – Carol Stratton, Christian Book Previews.com

Book Jacket:

Told in verse, this light-hearted tale will tickle the funny bone of kids and adults alike as they follow the adventures of 47 beavers stranded in a rowboat in the middle of the ocean.

"Two are better than one, because they have a good reward for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up the other." Ecclesiastes 4:9-10a (NRSV)

Join the beavers as they learn that 47 are even better than two and things go best when they all work together.