Selfie Time!

Sylvie the squirrel loves selfies (gotta love those alliterations, am I right?!). Her social media is packed full of selfies (and most of them aren't really good, if I'm being honest. We need to get some pre-teens to teach her a lesson on selfie etiquette). When she's taking pictures of herself, she misses out on a lot of fun going on around her! On top of that, like most people who walk and text, she has no idea where she's going and that gets her into mischief! Will she learn to not be on her phone? Will her friends understand? Will she ever take a good quality selfie?!

I enjoyed the style of this book - it felt almost hand drawn mixed with cartoons. It's a subtle yet lovely style and it drew my attention in.

The theme of the book was interesting. Don't be on your phone all of the time, but also friends help each other out in hard times? It was hard to put my finger on but they both worked. Watch out for your friends, they might need to be reminded that life's meant to be full of fun! I know a lot of little ones who are obsessed with their devices, so I think this is one good way to introduce downtime and friendship to them. Honestly, this would be a lovely educational device when parents have to take their childrens' phones away from them.

My only criticism of this book was that I couldn't quite place what age group it was going for. Sometimes the sentences seemed better for an older 6-8 demographic and at times it felt more like it would be for 3-5 year olds. Either way, it's definitely a children's picture book and it worked well.

Overall, this book is a sweet, cute, little read that could be an excellent educational tool.

Four out of five stars.

Thank you NetGalley and Capstone Editions for giving me a chance to pick up this sweet book!

Selfie by Sandy Horsley shows younger readers just what can go wrong when you spend too much time on your phone and not enough time paying attention. This story will make a great conversation starter with children of all ages and parents alike.

That is one selfie-obsessed squirrel!

I understand the point this book is trying to make, but I'm kind of disturbed that it even needs to exist for the age group in question. Are kids who are young enough to read a book about talking squirrels old enough to be posting pictures of themselves online without parental guidance? There's a weird mismatch here between what Sylvie's doing with her phone (she runs her own Instagram account, and spells well enough to include decipherable hashtags on all her photos) and the rest of her friends (who are playing on playground equipment in the manner of preschoolers).

The book is kind of preachy, but again, I question whether it needs to be. It seems like adults would be the ones who really need this (especially if they're so busy posting selfies that they don't know what their kids are doing with their phones).

I like the hashtags that are used cleverly throughout (especially when the animals go on their quest to find their friend). But I don't like the normalizing of frantic selfie-taking for this age group. Yes, Sylvie realizes the error of her ways, but in real life, it's not that simple. Kids are getting addicted to their devices at younger and younger ages, and without a parent to take away the phone and say, "Go outside and play!" I kind of doubt that most kids would decide to do so on their own after reading a picture book.

If you can even get them to put down the phone long enough to read a book.

This book is a wonderful way to introduce appropriate use of the internet and social media to young children. With beautiful illustrations, cute characters and an easy to follow story, Selfie shows young readers the importance of looking away from screens and seeing the world around them. Highly recommend to parents and teachers!

The illustrations in this book were great. It will show children to not worry about phones, and to live in the moment! Also to be there for their friends.