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When Edgar Met Cecil

by Kevin Luthardt

Peachtree Publishers

5 Stars

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Inside Jacket:  When Edgar’s family moves to a new town, everything seems strange and scary.  The kids look funny.  They dress weird.  They listen to bizarre music.  They eat strange food.  And the biggest, weirdest kid keeps staring at Edgar.  What does he want?

Opening:  Edgar had a nice life.  He loved to play ball with his best pal Quincy.  On the weekends, they watched scary movies.  And after school, they liked to build stuff.  One day Edgar’s parents told him that they were moving.

About the Story:  Edgar is a robot and has a robot best friend.  When the family must move to a new town, everyone except Edgar and his family are aliens.  Everything is strange.  Edgar noticed one of the biggest alien kids keeps looking—no, staring—at him.  This kid would sit by Edgar in their classes and at lunchtime.  Edgar tried to stay away from this kid.  During recess, Edgar found a quiet spot where he could build something.  The big, strange kid stopped staring and walked over.  In his hand was a tool.  Edgar SCREAMED! The big alien SCREAMED!  Who is this weirdo kid and what does he want with Edgar?

What I Thought: What can be worse for a kid than losing his best friend because his parents want to move?  Not only to a new town, but they took the rocket and traveled to a new planet—an alien planet.  How many kids go through this same scenario each year?  I would say hundreds and they all probably felt as Edgar felt, like everything and everyone is a bit strange.  Edgar Met Cecil handles this in a unique, colorful, alien way.

Cecil goes to school.  He has to right; some kind of government—and parental—rule.  He feels uncomfortable, as new kids usually feel.  Worse, one of the kids, a BIG kid, keeps staring at Edgar.  Is he going to eat Edgar, like in Edgar’s nightmare?  Edgar does what most of us would do—no, not tell a teacher, that would be so uncool.  He tries to find a place where he can be alone.  The alien kid looks like a big green blob with a red beret.  When he approaches Edgar, Edgar’s fears get the better of him and he SCREAMS!  Those screams scare the BIG kid and he SCREAMS!  Has this ever happen to you?  Turns out, the kid just wanted to be friends with Edgar, so the two sit down and build something together.  All week they built something, and the next week too.  Sorry, you should know by now that I am not going to tell you what they built.  Read the book!

Edgar had found a friend in this weird alien town.  It is so nice when one of the strange new kids tries to befriend the new kid.  It is hard when you are new to initiate a friendship.  Now that Edgar has met Cecil, he will most likely meet more kids and have more friends.  It seems to work that way.  I like Edgar Met Cecil because it shows the new kid that he will make a friend and not to be so scared.  Okay, these kids were aliens, but aren’t the kids in a new town alien, too?  Most of you are alien to me!

The illustrations are bright and cheery.  Edgar and his parents are robots and look pieced together, as are most robots.  He is silver with big, wide, round eyes that always sparkle.  Cecil is a green gooey-looking thing with eyes that look like they can close, unlike Edgar.  Cecil wears a red beret that goes nicely with his blue slacks and orange belt buckle.  The buckle matches the spots on Cecil’s backside.  Both are actually cute and not as scary as Edgar imagined.  Points out a simple truth:  most things we fear are not fearful.  We make it fearful in our minds.  The illustrations do a good job capturing the emotions these two characters feel as they react to one another.  Edgar’s nightmare captures the emotion of being new and alone quite well.

Kids, especially boy-kids, will love this book.  They will like both the robots and the aliens.  Kids, big and little, and especially those that have had to go to a new school, will love Edgar Met Cecil.  Kids that had to move to a new town, even if not on a new planet, will also enjoy Edgar Met Cecil.  Friendship is good, and if a robot and an alien came become friends, then so can a new kid.  I do not know if they could build a . . . oops, I forgot I cannot tell you.  Go read the book!

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TRAILER..

When Edgar Met Cecil

by Kevin Luthardt    website    blog   facebook    linkedin

Peachtree Publishers    website    blog   facebook    twitter

Released September, 2013

ISBN:  978-1-56145-706-9

32 pages

Ages:  4 to 8

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© 2013 by Peachtree Publishers, used with permission

Text & Illustrations copyright © 2013 by Kevin Luthardt

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PEACHTREE BOOK BLOG TOUR

When Edgar Met Cecil

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