Crash-Landing on Ooleeoo

The Adventures of Tila Pinkerton by Angela Shelton
I'm not really sure with what genre to describe this book. It takes place on another planet in a different galaxy, but it doesn't really feel like science fiction. And it is in a fantasy world where cows eat chocolate grass to make chocolate milk, but it doesn't really feel like fantasy. I think because the theme of finding ones inner strength and being a good person are so universal, and the personalities and relationships felt so real, it's hard to pinpoint this as "make-beleive."

I think my biggest complaint with this book is that it's confusing. There was a time jump 4 or 5 chapters in, that I didn't notice. I spent far too long thinking I skipped something important, but when I went back and read it over, there was nothing that said just how long it has been since Tilda Pinkerton had crash-landed on Ooleeoo. Also there were a lot of characters, and I had a hard time keeping track of them all. I realize there was a list of characters, but when you start a book with 6 pages of names it is a little intimidating. Even with the confusion, about halfway through I was able to recognize who people were, which made it a far easier read.

One aspect I love about this book were the actual character names and the fun vocabulary. There are a lot of words in here that I hadn't seen before, and wouldn't have been able to define, whiffet for example. But since this was a book for children, everytime a crazy new word was introduced there was a footnote at the bottom of the page defining it. I have a soft spot for footnotes in general, and would probably never look up these words otherwise, so I really loved this aspect.

Overall this is a heartwarming book, that brought me close to tears. The book ends with some unanswered questions, that have me looking forward to the sequel. Although until that comes out there's also a companion book, instead meant for K-3rd grade, Tilda Pinkerton’s Magical Hats about Tilda adventures on earth that I would love to get a copy of.

4/5

Disclosure: I was provided this book through Virtual Author Book Tours. All opinions expressed are my own.