Time To Roar will speak to eco kids with activist parents

The base theme of Time To Roar has everything that parents could want in a message-oriented illustrated book. The book can be viewed at as a pre-K look at sticking up for yourself or a cause you believe in. Time To Roar could also be seen as a not so subtle allegory about deforestation and how it impacts the animals. Unfortunately for most young readers the book tries each story arc with equal enthusiasm, which in turn makes the book preachy and as predictable as an action movie from the 80’s staring Chuck Norris.

Time To Roar starts out on a happy note with Sasha, a bear sitting on top of a hill overlooking the deer, rabbits and other forest critters in the morning sun. In the distance she sees giant yellow beasts who are cutting down the trees. The wise squirrel warns Sasha that they’ll keep cutting until the forest is no more.

Sasha is protective and immediately wants to go down and start roaring, but the squirrel suggests getting all of the animals together to help. The bird flies around and sings a song. The super cute rabbits try thumping their feet, but the machines are so strong that they shake her off their logs. She can’t take it anymore and thunders down the hill towards the destructive machines where she lets loose a mighty roar.

The book is geared towards ages 3-6. The vocabulary and pictures are on par for them and most kids will enjoy looking at the illustrations, in addition to discovering a lesson that’ll serve them well. However, even for a book that’s aimed at young kids it’s built on a shaky foundation. If the squirrel is smart enough to know that the bulldozers will keep coming why did he gather the forest animals? Yeah, it’s a small point, but that, combined with the book simultaneously being preachy about environmentalism is annoying.

It is cool to be an environmentalist kids, don’t get me wrong. Captain Planet kids are already drinking this juice and their parents could probably tell them more about deforestation than this book can.  Some people, regardless of how noble their cause is can be annoying in their delivery. Even the person who wants to rescue stray cats from resort communities can be annoying if their message isn’t tempered with the right honey.

Time To Roar, A Story About Raising Your Voice wants to be about sharing your beliefs, regardless of the situation. However, it’s mired in a story about the strongest animal in the forest being talked out of doing something by rodent with a fluffy tail. There’s a disconnect between the readers and the book that extends past those elements. Today’s kids need a rallying cry, but this book falls a little short of that unless their eco or activist parents are just looking for good-night fodder.

Time To Roar is on Bloomsbury Kids and is written by Olivia A. Cole with illustrations by Jessica Gibson.

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