Good day everyone, thanks for joining me. Today's post focuses on the final two reviews in the tour. This post may take a while to read so go grab yourself another cup of coffee or other refreshment of choice, I'll wait.

Let me start of by saying what I've stated so many times already, this book is intended for ages 7-10. The decision to set the age that high was mine alone and quite frankly, the client didn't agree with it but but the final decision was mine. Setting the age limit had nothing to do with the content, it was solely based on the length. Could some things been condensed more than they were? Possibly, but the risk for losing the author's voice and replacing it with my own was too great. So I kept it pretty much as it was written in the 60s. Why am I telling you this? Because today's first review basically repeats a theme of the last review, they thought it should be for bigger kids. Well, it is. To read that review click here.

The second review I received today was from the blogger who inspired my first blog post of the tour, It Takes A Village. I compared her blog review with her Amazon review and noticed that her blog review was slightly softer than what she posted on Amazon twelve days ago. I'm also glad her blog review explains a bit more of why she thinks the way she does because it shows me that just how far we have to go before people truly understand bullying. Considering she considers herself as a "counselor" makes me shudder for not only the youths of today but also the generations to come.

There are many forms of bullying, not just verbal. When it is just name calling it may be possible to sit the bully down and reason with them, but that's generally when they are very young. If you read The Alligator & the Ducklings carefully you'd see that the alligator had been doing physically destructive things for years without anyone intervening. Now, the author never gave ages of the alligator or any of the other characters, but I see the birds and various creatures as adults. The townspeople definitely were. Certain times I see the alligator as one too simply because he is referred to as old at one point, other times I see him as a teenager now attacking those younger than him, the ducklings. Either way, a message for adults who may read this book is to nip bullying in the bud if you see it or hear about your children doing it.

At no point in the book did it state the birds intentionally went after the alligators eye, but yes, it did happen. Birds have sharp beaks, it helps them do many things in nature and is also a weapon against predators. As for the townspeople throwing rocks and using sticks, I'd like to know what you'd do if an alligator aggressively came on shore where you were standing. How far do you think you'd get in asking, "Can't we talk about our differences?" before you became an alligator dinner?

Children have read this book and didn't find it violent at all. They are being raised in the real world where they understand how nature works. They also know the time for talking out your differences ends when attacks go from verbal to physical. The world you suggest doesn't exist and sends a bad message to children that I don't recommend at all.