Review of “Mystery at Sea: A Noah's Ark Tale” by Sylvie R. Bordzuk

Score: 94/100 (9.4 out of 10)

Turn reading time into an interactive adventure with yet another great children's book by Sylvie R. Bordzuk!

There's a whole lot to love about this book. Similar to “The Adventures of Kodie & Bella,” which we reviewed earlier, “Mystery at Sea: A Noah's Ark Tale” is full of beautiful, colorful, eye-catching illustrations including numerous animals. This is accompanied with fun, tight writing that is never overly long and is full of simple rhymes and patterns that your children will love! Every animal/character has something clever to say, and it leaves room for prompts for younger readers such as “Which animal is this?” and “What do you think they're looking for?”

Every page offers something new and exciting to keep the little readers engaged and interested!

If we were going to nitpick, we'd say that this book is not as original as “The Adventures of Kodie & Bella” was. For starters, there are a lot of Noah's Ark stories. It's probably its own sub-genre at this point. Also, if you're looking for a story to teach the kids the actual flood story and about Noah's Ark, this might not be the book for you because it is absent of all mention of God and the flood. That's not to say that's entirely a bad thing. It's not like a parent or Sunday school teacher can't chime in about God here or there at their own discretion.

It could even be a way to get non-religious kids acquainted with the classic Bible story without being preachy. It also chooses to add a fun twist to the story (involving Noah's missing instrument) that makes it fresh and adds an element of mystery to keep kids wondering until the end.

Once again, this book features amazing, adorable art! The animals are numerous and varied. Each animal is drawn within reasonable proportions. The humans don't reach the same level of cuteness or detail that the animals do, and Noah frankly looks a little bit off with an almost Hey Arnold!-shaped head. He is almost always facing the same way and almost always has one of two expressions on his face. That's limited for a main character in an illustrated book. He nonetheless appears friendly and inviting. It's very easy to overlook such minuscule details when this book has so many pluses. Kids won't mind. And the human characters still carry the same lighthearted, happy feel of the book that the animal characters do.

Overall, this is another GREAT children's book by Sylvie R. Bordzuk!

Get it on Amazon today!