I really wanted to like “The Adventures of Rockford T. Honeypot”. I thought it had a cute concept but the flash backs were often and sometimes hard to tell if the story was in present time or past. After about a quarter of the story, I had to DNF.

I really tried this. But talking animals? No, I can't do that. It just something that feels too childish for me with that plot, and I've always had a problem with that. But this sounded so cute so I just couldn't not try. DNF.

So, so cute. I could picture all the characters and their lives in my head! I would love more of all their lives!

Unfotunately trying to read this via ereader was impossible. The pages were broken up or blank and i only got part pages.

Speaking from just the cover if this is the finished cover; i would definitely buy on a total cover buy and give it a try. I think i would also enjoy the book in hand more as ebooks give me major migraines.

This was a very winding and long book and really didn’t have any Original Ideas. It was a mishmash or other books, and it didn’t feel cohesive.

What a fun read! I cannot wait to read this aloud to my students if we ever go back to school!

This novel is packed with wit, humor, and fun characters. I can see my students wanting to write similar stories.

Title: The Adventures of Rockford T. Honeypot

Author: Josh Gottsegen

Publisher: OneLight Publishing

Pages: 219

Date: June 23, 2020

I don't like to write book reviews on an empty stomach so before I started writing this one, I plowed my way through the last piece of chocolate pie I had (it was birthday pie from my mother in law) and a few small pieces of Sweet Baby Ray's original beef jerky. Now I'm ready to write and I'll happily do so with a steaming hot cup of Red Rose decaf tea. 

I like the premise to this story. It is, by its own admission, an 'origin story.' I suppose that might mean there are more Rockford T. Honeypot stories in the future. This might be a good idea because I think that the basic characters have a lot of room for development. I didn't particularly care for Theo all the time. I thought he was a bit obnoxious, but that's just me and I might be too old to 'get it.' But I do like the premise of a wise old 'man' telling his story to younger people. The gimmick of  the story being followed on social media is clever and modern. That might also be a good way to bring the story to life in film someday too. 

Each chapter has an illustration on the very first page of the chapter. They are nice illustrations and to some degree or another give us a clue about the chapter. But this is a chapter book, so illustrations are scarce. 

The book is set up as an older Rockford is 'discovered' in Hut Market 39 by someone in the crowd and he thus begins to tell his story or stories (adventures). Of course the character was picked on as a child and this, in some way or another, became a catalyst for his future development. Of course he gets screwed over by members of his family. Of course he gets kicked out of the family. And of course he is able to overcome all of this and much more to become the success he is 'today.' And of course the author sums it all up nicely on the last page, '"My dearest, Theo," says Rockford,"Haven't you been listening to the story? Nothing is impossible. I never give up."'  He had many adventures (which I won't spoil) and they are fun to read. 

The book has thirty-three chapters and I think I sense a little of the Hero's Journey in the book. I think this is a sustainable character and even though the book was a bit unrefined for me, this doesn't mean it won't be helpful to school age students who are looking for a character to cling to and travel with. There are a lot of god vocabulary words in the book for classroom teachers to explore and this should also be useful for students wishing to expand their own vocabulary (a chore not many students in our Twitterverse engage.) 

I kind of have this image of Peter Falk playing the lead character of Rockford in a made for TV series. You know, Peter Falk from The Princess Bride. Sadly, Peter Falk is no longer with us on earth so that won't work. Nevertheless, that's kind of how I worked through this book. I just imagined Lt Columbo telling me all these stories. 

4/5 Stars.

<I>Thanks to NetGalley for providing me with a copy in return for an honest review.</i>

I went into this book thinking it would be a cute, fun read for younger readers. However, I’ve left this book trying to figure out who the target audience is supposed to be.

The story uses fairly complex sentences and higher level vocabulary to tackle a plethora of adult issues from an adult point of view. Things like infertility, bankruptcy, and lawsuits aren’t necessarily something young kids can’t understand, but like most of the things in the book these are dealt with hastily and insubstantially. The pace of the entire book feels like a sprint and then its super choppy, preventing the reader from becoming invested in anything that happens.

Events happen one after another without any time to process the consequences before Rockford is already onto the next problem/adventure. And the cut backs to the present mostly didn’t serve any purpose beyond interrupting the story to shoehorn in references to social media and overly convenient reunions.

If the story had picked fewer topics to handle in a more child friendly way, I think this could have been an excellent middle grade read.

Thank you to NetGalley and OneLight Publishing for an ARC in exchange for an honest review. The cover drew me into reading this story. I was also in the mood for a Wind in the Willows type fantasy animal character story. This book does not have that tone. It takes place in an animal fantasy world where all species are intertwined. The protagonist is an elderly chipmunk standing in line at a store with his great grandson. There is a long line and Honeypot starts to relate his life story that is full of trials and tribulations until he finds his way to fame and fortune. The great grandson is very snarky and there are all sorts of modern technology references. During the first part of the book- Honeypot has an arrogant tone. The story goes back and forth from this store to him relating his life story. All the while, he starts to attract millions of viewers as his story is streamed. It becomes a viral gathering of 10 million viewers by the end of the book. Animals flock to the store. This scenario did not appeal to me at all- I did not like the modern tech world intertwined. The last third of the book was much better than the first part- after the hurricane, the tone of the story improved. My favorite lines: As a child, my father's pride left me a stray. As an adult, his humility earned my love." Until the hurricane, I felt like I was reading rising action events written by my sixth grade students. Coherent segues were missing, combined with the off putting tone, in addition to mentioning "hooking up" and getting drunk on fermented crabapples have earned a two start rating from me. I think the target audience would be 3-6th grade. I don't think from reading the book jacket and seeing the cover that adults would expect their children to be reading these types of references and tone. There are many innuendos peppered through the story along with disrespectful dialogue. That was surprising seeing how it the book was promoted and packaged. Since it did have an overall good theme- not to give up on your dreams- and that the last third of the book was much improved, I did not lower it to a one star rating . I think this would have been better packaged as a graphic novel. Most readers would not be as surprised with the content in that format.

As I’ve said before, I’m a big fan of book series like Wings of Fire and Warrior Cats. I’ve always had a fondness for books with animal protagonists, and as a kid I used to go out of my way to find them. I love the spirit of self discovery and adventure, and I’m willing to overlook a lot of flaws to watch a good romp.

The pop culture references were cheeky and cute, and while other reviews say that the technology took them out of the world, I thought it was charming! The descriptions were also really fun, and it felt like they could’ve come out of a Sylvanian Families playset. Try to think of these characters as little fuzzy people, rather than animals.

Unfortunately, though, I wasn’t fond of our titular character. The author tried to give him some challenges and flaws, but he still felt very two dimensional to me. When he described some of his struggles, he felt entirely unaffected by them. He ran a business into the ground, his family left him behind, and his mentor stole his recipe — these were presented as struggles, but shortly after it felt like: well, onto the next thing.

His flaws also felt a bit off. It felt like these were the sorts of things you’d say at a job interview when you wanted to imply you have no flaws at all. It might help the narrative to read this as if Rockford is an unreliable narrator (and it makes sense, too, since the story flips from past to present fairly frequently).

I think a lot of flaws with this book could’ve been solved with one or two strong main characters with different flaws and interests. I think this will appeal to smart, downtrodden kids. Unfortunately, though, it just wasn’t for me.

I mean...when a book that's aimed for 8-12 year-olds talks about 'hooking up'...IDEK. The conversations between characters felt unnatural and, at times, a little too simple.

I liked the adaptations of modern things in our lives being incorporated into animalesque representations and the cute drawings before each chapter. That was about it.

2.0 / 5 ✪

https://arefugefromlife.wordpress.com/2020/06/17/the-adventures-of-rockford-t-honeypot-by-josh-gottsegen-review/

When I first saw the Adventures of Rockford T. Honeypot, it called to mind one of my favorite series when I was younger: Redwall by Brian Jacques. I loved how the animals wore clothes, swords, lived in castles, sang song, ate wondrous food, lived exciting lives. The adventure in them made me yearn for it in my own life, and steered me on the path that would define my future. While at first the book seems anything but a fun, simple adventure, the story quickly shifts to the story of Rockford T. Honeypot—told via flashbacks by the now elder Rockford to his great-grandson. It details the young chipmunk’s life in Kona Valley, growing up with his mother Emma, father Clarence, and several brothers, all also named Clarence. Rockford was not like any of his brothers, being more careful, sensitive, and obsessed with cleanliness. Because of this, he was very often singled out, even picked on by his brothers and other bullies in the valley. He favored spending time with his mother, unlike his brothers, and found his first and best friend in her.

But it was because Rockford was not like his brothers that his father came to rely more and more on the young chipmunk. Good with books and numbers though the Clarences never were, a young Rockford soon rose through the ranks of his father’s business, even managing it when his parents went away for a season. But it turned out that not even a proper love of numbers and cleanliness translated into anything approaching business experience. By the time his parents returned, Rockford had bankrupted the business, leaving the Honeypots destitute. And thus did Clarence Honeypot—patriarch of the clan—disown his youngest son, leaving Rockford alone while he took his family elsewhere.

And so, Rockford—alone and untested—set out to find his way in the world. His life would take many turns, suffer many trials and travails, but Rockford would face each head on with a bold face, an iron will, and a bottle of lemon hand-sanitizer. Thus begin the adventures, and who knows where they may lead?

First, I’d like to address the present day. As I mentioned, an elder Rockford tells his tale through a series of flashbacks, in-between returning to the present day for… posterity? Some unknowable reason. I found these interludes painful, almost unreadable. I actually began skipping them, as the language was just painful—some amalgamation of “what the kids today say” and what the author thought the kids today say. The language of the flashbacks reminded me of what someone who’d seen one silent generation flick might write to try to approximate it. As a result it’s awkward, but passable. Luckily the language evens out as Rockford gets older, to the point where I didn’t have an issue with it later on. Sadly, the language in the present day never changes.

I had so many issues with the story itself. Here are just a few. (*) The chipmunks and other animals live in tree houses and ride on hawks and geese and do other things that would suggest they’re the regular size. But then they have individual tiny greenhouses that grow things like pineapples and pecans, how exactly? Are they miniature trees? (*) There are lawyers and court cases and legal terms in this book. They’re even like, a decent part of the plot. Why? Either children are a lot more boring than I remember, or this is a mistake. Also, the lesson seems to be that “it’s bad to sue people, unless you do it”, which is… just dumb. (*) The chipmunks live in the jungle in pine trees with monkeys and bananas and… for a book that has a child that points out the inaccuracies of everything, it’s skipped over that some of these things don’t overlap. (*) “Bullies are always bullies and can’t ever change” seems to be another lesson that really isn’t great. (*) All of the animals can talk to one another, except for the ones that can’t. Which is not explained. (*)

The story is listed as Middle-Grade, but seems to be built so that both younger and older children will appreciate it. Problem is—the plot is probably too juvenile to appeal to older kids and the lexicon is too high to appeal to all but a few of the younger ones. In trying to relate to a bigger audience, it actually excludes more readers.

TL;DR

The Adventures of Rockford T. Honeypot is a decent distraction at first, but is ultimately annoying. It’s never a great adventure, though it visits a lot of new, different places. The lessons are sometimes vague, other times glaringly obvious, but mostly just strange. It presents more questions than it answers, and mostly just settles with “this is a happy ending, don’t question it”. My advice to the author: drop 90% of the present day stuff—the interludes, the story-telling, the tweeting and posting and hashtags. In fact, do a complete overhaul on the language. Either keep the legal stuff or change it, but don’t leave it as is; it’s honestly painful to read. Please rework the character of little-miss know-it-all. She’s not endearing. Don’t try to expand your audience—you don’t have enough action, adventure or mystery in this to pull it off. Either explain more things about the world or don’t explain anything—but you can’t have it both ways. If I could offer the reader some advice: Probably skip this one. I know it debuts with a pretty low price tag, but it’s really not a steal. Maybe try Redwall instead, it’s always a classic.

I just loved this book. It was a bit slow at the beginning but as I read I could not put it down. It's about a chipmunk who feels he is useless and cannot accomplish anything. The story he tells is about his life before his success and his current day successes. His family is surprised by what he went through and what he has done. Parts of his story are sad and parts are funny, This is such a fun read and although it's for middle schoolers I'm sure others would enjoy it. It would be a great travel read. A great addition for your child's bookshelf. It would make a great gift for birthdays or Christmas. I hope there may be more adventures of Rockford T. Honeypot to come.

I chose to read this book because I love introducing this level of literature as read alouds to my own children (aged 6 and 9). The premise in the description was cute - it's the tales and origin story of Rockford T. Honeypot, an adventurous chipmunk. He encounters A LOT of characters and situations, some of which may be over the heads of the intended audience. For example, topics such as infertility, drunkenness (bar fights), global warming, and stock investments seem to appeal to older audiences. The fantasy appeal is fun and I loved the Tropland equivalents to the human world were fun to spot throughout the book. I had a hard time getting into this one.

This middle grade chapter book was a little long and involved for my taste, with two voices and two tenses, so it's not your common or garden simple story, but for the avid young reader, it should provide a wealth of adventurous pursuit and engrossing reading.

Rockford T Honeypot is your usual reserved and retiring chipmunk, albeit with a healthy respect for germs and hygiene, but circumstances are about to throw him into an unwilling and unwitting adventure that will change him all-around and make a ground squirrel out of him! Until he ruins the family business and is abandoned by his strict father and ne'er-do-well brothers, the only adventure he has is reading of his favorite fictional hero. Little does he know he's about to personify that spirit he so admires and make a story all of his own.

Framed by an older Rockford looking back on his life, and told over the course of many chapters, with occasional interruptions, Rockford learns to fly (sort of), learns to fight, learns to be fearless, and to face problems head on. He learns to spot business opportunities and to supply a need when he sees one, as well as mastering exercising his brain in solving problems. He travels and has adventures, makes friends and meets the girl of his dreams. And he creates the perfect roasted hazelnut recipe.

The adventure has thrills and chills, danger and amusement, and tells a whopping great story about the little guy winning through. I commend it as a worthy read.

I received an electronic ARC from OneLight Publishing through NetGalley.
While I like the story and the way it's written, I'm not sure the target audience will. It's certainly a modernized Wind in the Willows style book. I like how technology and ingenuity interweave with the overall story line.
A great-grandfather - Rockford T. Honeypot - decides to tell his life story to his great-grandson while waiting in a grocery store line to check out. A crowd gathers and continues to grow, including an online audience as someone records the story when it's revealed who he is.
Gottsegen cleverly uses his animal characters and anthropomorphizes them to represent human societies. The book works on various levels - a simple story to a fully symbolic one with a cautionary message for deeper thinkers.
The main character has led a long and interesting life. He's grown from a bullied small chipmunk to an extremely wealthy multi-business owner. Along the way, he's had experiences ranging from time in a monk's retreat to dealings with the local mobster. He's loved two women and married one of them. They lived a typical life of trials and triumphs. He found his estranged family and took care of them. Lost his wife in a tragic accident, and, apparently disappeared for eight years and has only returned the day before this massive storytelling time.
The book flips between his story and the present time in the grocery store. Characters continue to step out of the stories of past events and reconnect with Rockford at the store. Plenty of humor and tender interactions to appeal to readers.
My concerns are the slow pace at times, a few disjointed transitions, and some of the actual events narrated. I'm not sure readers will stay with it though it is a charming read.

Chipmunk Rockford T. Honeypot, resident legend of Tropland. Entrepreneuer. Famous chef. Icon. But he didn’t start out that way. His painful beginnings left him abandoned by his parents after a business mishap caused by his brothers – yet he took the blame. Rockford then followed the stories of his fictional hero, Captain James T. Rockford. To climb the mountain and reach the stars, the unearthed gems in the sky.
During a visit to a local market, Rockford is recognized by the locals. A news agency joins the fun and live streams his visit while he shares his life story. Alternating between past and present, he recounts his exploits as a ground-breaking chef, a chip-monk, a young chipmunk in love, a business enthusiast, and a father.

There are tender moments in this novel, for sure. And in many ways, it’s true to life. But I think therein lies the problem. It’s true to life. And adult life, complete with love triangles, lawsuits, natural disasters, abusive family relationships, swindlers, relational conflict, and business dealings is a lot for a child to take in. Any one of those topics has merit within the middle grade arena. Kida are dealing with these issues everyday. But I found it unsettling that these topics are dealt with from an adult angle. Rockford might be a chipmunk, but he’s a father. A grown man. He deals with these situations like a normal man would – with a certain amount of functional dysfunction. What’s missing from this story is looking at the greater issues of life through the eyes of a child.
As much as I wanted to like this book - as much as I value story and the reflections of an older generation - I just feel like this is one is a miss. Rockford’s charm isn’t enough to overcome his faults and self-absorption in the end.

I loved the premise of The Adventures of Rockford T. Honeypot. I was instantly drawn to the idea of traveling all around the world with our main character as he had adventure after adventure and looked forward to meeting the fun personalities that he would encounter on his travels. The characters introduced along the way were dynamic and engaging but too often it felt like we were pulled away before a connection was fully made. The timeline shifts also felt disorienting and they ultimately did not add very much to the narrative other than to give a framework through which to hear about the main character's journey. Overall this was a fun, easy read and I think it would be enjoyable for younger middle grade readers.

I would say my students would be all over his novel. Rockford is the classic farm boy to hero tale like that of Star Wars before it. Great overall and fun.

Admittedly, Middle Grade Fantasy is not something I often read. Actually, I'm not even sure I could name a title in the genre I've read. Though as I understand, the Percy Jackson series can be considered as Middle Grade and I've read that. Anyway. A few weeks back I was in need of a fun, lighthearted read and thought Middle Grade might be the answer. Still, I stumbled upon The Adventures of Rockford T. Honeypot by accident. The first thing that caught my attention was the cover and since the blurb sounded interesting as well, I said bring it on!

Rockford is a chipmunk living in a forest called Tropland. He is nothing like most of his family. He is a dreamer, a bookworm and a firm believer of sanitizers. When he is forced to part with his family, he decides it's finally time to be what he always dreamed to be: an adventurer! He is pretty easy to identify with him, the loner and weirdo among the Clarences in his family.

"Being aloe never bothered me; a reader is never alone. When I wasn't whiskers deep in a new book, I was writing in my journal, or playing rock, paper, scissors with my imaginary sidekick, Norby."

As he later recollects the events of his life, we meet several side characters who pop in and out from time to time and shape his future. He makes friends and enemies, experiences many things good and bad, all the while broadcasting the universal message: if you have courage and a will to work hard, you can reach your dreams.

There is a lot happening in a relatively short book. Sometimes maybe too much as I felt I would have liked to linger at some places longer, to get the characters know better, to get a better grasp of the world. Less might have been more in this case. Most of the chapters work like short individual stories which make a whole when being read at once. Which I think it's great, it made me think of the times when my mom used to read to me each night. I would have liked this book back then and I think these chapters all make a good night's story. Many of them contain some kind of lesson that might stick around for the readers.

"After hearing that story, I questioned my identity - something I think we should all do from time to time. If only Sora knew what I have accomplished over the years. I'm no tiger, but I am a chipmunk who listened to his roar and built and built an empire of weatlth for a thousand generations."

The Adventures of Rockford T. Honeypot mixes the classical elements of advenure books and modern ones, such as live streaming and computers. It might sound weird, but it actually works out really well. All the modern elements are fitted into the forest world and honestly the world building was one of my favourite parts of this book. Josh Gottsegen definitely had a great vision for this book. All of the animals are humanised - they talk, work, act like people while still staying animals, if that makes sense. I just really found it fascinating how the different parts of the forest had their own ecosystem.

"At this height, I could even see the power vines, built by beavers using the river force that provided Tropland with safe electricity."

As the book follows Rockford's whole life, inevitably it deals with serious topics (loss, lonelyness, poverty, social differencies, etc.) besides the fun moments. And there are plenty of the latter. A chipmunk who is afraid of bacteria and dirt goes on an adventure where he finds plenty of both, as well as several scary obstacles he has to go through, finding his own courage along the way.

"Each day a journey," Ka said upon entering the new temple for the first time. "A battle of blood or heart. To live is to love."

If you are in need of a bit of lighthearted fun, plenty of adventure and important life lessons, The Adventures of Rockford T. Honeypot might be just exactly what you are looking for. It's just as enjoyable for adults as it's rewarding for kids.