Review: Channing OBanning and the Rainforest Rescue by Angela Spady

SUMMARY FROM NETGALLEY.COM:

BFF troubles and an exotic trip filled with animals—young readers 6–10 will love stepping into the world of spunky 4th grade artist Channing O’Banning!
Fourth-grader Channing O’Banning always has a colored pencil stuck in her hair. A girl who prefers her sketch book to her math book—or any book, for that matter—budding artist Channing is the star of this new chapter book series. With parents who think she’s from Mars, an annoying older sister who acts like Queen of the World, and a surprisingly cool Nana, Channing navigates the fourth grade in hilarious stories every kid can relate to. For fans of Judy Moody or Junie B. Jones, Channing O’Banning’s antics will be familiar and welcome—and parents will love that Channing always learns a biblically based lesson.
Channing and best friend Maddy have always been inseparable—until now. Maddy is smitten with Marco, the new boy from Costa Rica—and Chan doesn’t like it one bit. But Chan’s ears perk up when Marco tells the class about the quetzal, a beautiful bird that lives in South American rainforests. Chan is determined that she will someday capture the bird in her sketchbook.
By a weird twist of fate, Channing’s family takes a trip to Costa Rica with Marco’s family. Determined to not let Marco ruin her trip, Chan sets off to find the quetzal, but she discovers more than she bargained for: first impressions aren’t always correct, and it’s so important not to judge others.

MY TAKE:
If you're looking for a book that may help get your child interested in the rainforest and its preservation, you might want to take a look at this book.

In Channing OBanning and the Rainforest Rescue, Channing is jealous when her best friend starts spending a lot of time with a boy. She is determined to dislike the boy until she finds out that that boy's father will now be working with her father and they'll be bringing him on vacation to Costa Rica.

The first half of the book was more about how Channing felt jealous that she was losing her best friend to a boy. It's something I've seen in plenty of children's books before so I wasn't particularly interested at this point.

The second half or so, though, was very interesting. My interest started climbing the moment Channing tried the Costa Rican food, and reached its highest point when Channing saw in person the animals that Marco had told her about.

I liked that rather than stopping there, emphasis was also placed on ways to be greener and help save the rainforest. During my time, we had Captain Planet and some other eco-centric book series, but I don't see a lot of well-known books these days that emphasize conservation and earth-friendliness. Perhaps this could be one of those kinds of books for he current generation.

Thanks to NetGalley and Thomas Nelson for the e-ARC. Publication date of Channing OBanning and the Rainforest Rescue is on May 5, 2015.

THE GOOD:

1. You learn about some animals and plants that can be found in the Costa Rican rainforest.
2. It has some good messages about friendship.
3. It can encourage kids to care more about the environment. 

THE BAD:

1. Channing can be immature and irritating sometimes. 

READ IT IF:

1. Your child likes exotic plants and animals.
2. Your child likes books about friendships.
3. You are looking for a book that stresses the importance of being green and conserving rainforests. 

RATING:


SOUNDS INTERESTING?