Pearl of the Seas - Ruth Finnegan

                Pearl of the Seas is the second book written by Ruth Finnegan that I have read, the first being Black Inked Pearl. I wanted to read Pearl of the Seas because I was interested in how Ms. Finnegan would handle a children’s book. Written as a prequel to Black Inked Pearl, this book tells the story of two adventurous children who, along with their sweet and comical dog, sail off in a log that they have found and built into a boat. They discover a land where the king bestows them with wisdom in a God-like way and there are numerous lessons to be learned by anyone reading the book. The story itself is quite a lot of fun and the characters of Chris, Kate and Holly (the dog), are playful and fun. However, the reader has to dig deep to find the actual story. It’s buried under layers of needless words that either don’t make sense or don’t add anything to the story. For example, in chapter one, page two as read on my ereader, when Kate splashes Chris with water and runs away, the description is “the splash lashed dashed bashed him.” For a child reading on their own, all of the wordiness would make them lose interest rather quickly. If this book is being read to a child, it would be received better because an adult could make the words and tone of voice fun and interesting. Eventually though, this would no longer work because the story is lost. The book is also a little too long for younger readers to read on their own. There are illustrations but not nearly enough and they are black and white. A little colour would make them much more interesting to children.

                Ms. Finnegan has so much talent as a writer and the stories are there if there was less use of unnecessary nonsensical words. I did read parts of the book to my niece and shortened it to just the story and she really enjoyed it. I read this on my ereader and it formatted well. The cover is quite lovely and colourful.