Kikoo and the Land of the Shimmers (review)

Kikoo and the Land of the Shimmers - Book One

Author: Suresha Hill
Publisher: First Edition Design Publishing (Feb 19 2015)
Review copy courtesy of NetGalley

I recently joined NetGalley, and was looking for new children's books to try. Kikoo and the Land of Shimmers attracted my attention because of my interest in multicultural books, as well as the fact that a review copy was available without requiring approval.

In this story, Kikoo and his dog, Boonie, discover that Kikoo can travel to a land called Terraauck, descibed as "right next door to where you dream." In this land, Kikoo has a mentor who will teach him what he needs to know. Pretty quickly, he needs to know how to get back to the regular world, where some boys are stealing his bike!

I found that I liked the story when it was more concerned with getting Kikoo's bike back, but less so when it was in Terraauck. The magical realism of the early part of the story was promising, and the lesson Kikoo learned about helping himself by helping others was a good one. Unfortunately, the magical part was a little clumsy. One problem might be that the book is the first in a series of stories, and the author needed to get past the explanations, but I think the story could have been more smooth. While the digital version did not include all the illustrations, some were at the end, and were interesting though a little amateurish. It also should be noted that the multiculturalism is mostly reflected in the names, illustrations and descriptions of people, not in any deep sense in the story or interactions.

I would recommend this book for first through third graders who like dogs and magic.

Three out of five stars.