Selfies in the Wild
Series: The Adventures of Loveable Lobo, #6
Written and Illustrated by C. L. Murphy
Peanut Butter Prose  8/01/2016
28 pages   Ages 3—7

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“Lobo and his sidekick raven find a trail camera in their neck of the woods, and it attracts the attention of forest friends. Images captured have never been sillier or more candid. Just as their wild dispositions are exposed, the photo shoot comes to an unexpected end and they’re all left wondering why. The reason may be obvious.” [Amazon]

Review
One warm summer day, Lobo and his forest friends happen upon a camera in the forest. After assuring the others of the camera’s inability to take their souls, the animals begin posing for the camera. For nearly an hour and a half, the animal friends show different sides of themselves. Their grins, their ears, their paws, their fun sides, and their curious sides. But then, unexpectedly, the camera stops taking images and the animals think they have broken it. Are they now in danger? Did they make the camera mad with their silliness? Maybe the camera simply needs a nap. These are some of the animal’s explanations for the camera’s demise. What they don’t know is the truth—or who is watching.

Selfies in the Wild begins in confusion for both the animals and readers. Who is speaking? Bubbles don’t help in the dark. I was surprised to see such an error on the part of this normally astute writer. Not until the third page do we learn it is Lobo and his friend Raven, with Raven being the skittish participant. Their voices heard around the forest, other animals begin to appear. Each curious animal soon becomes a willing participant.

I love the initial worry of some of these animals. It is a belief in some civilizations that a picture captures—steals—a piece of your soul or spirit. The animals worry this may happen with each click of the camera. Lobo tells them not to worry, but never explains why they should not worry, he intuitively knows a camera is harmless. This begs the question do animals have spirits or souls. Not the type of question for a young child, but one that can open up interesting dialogue with older kids and adults. A good picture book reaches beyond young children.

As time and pictures continue, the animals get goofy. The colorful illustrations bring out the animals’ personalities perfectly. Selfies in the Wild can be viewed as an interesting commentary on the current selfie culture of kids (and some adults) today. Why are we so fixated with these phone cameras and taking our own pictures? The animals also bring up another interesting question. Who sees these pictures? With all these possible discussion questions, I think Selfies in the Wild is perfect for tweens and teens. Teachers might find Selfies in the Wild as a way to broach the subject of the narcissistic behavior and the phone cameras that help brings this to the surface.

Selfies in the Wild is based on the author’s own wilderness camera, which has captured many wild animals. Of course, those animals had no idea a camera caught their image. Having seem a few of those images, I found them humorous in ways Lobo and his friends are not. Lobo and company know what is happening and pose for the camera. The real animals were simply being themselves.

Selfies in the Wild, as a children’s book, will produce many giggles from its youngest readers. At its core, this is what Selfies in the Wild is meant to be, a fun picture book showing goofy animals acting like many teens today. Parents will find this very funny. The bigger worth of Selfies in the Wild is the discourse it can foster with older kids and parents or in the school setting. In this regard, Selfies in the Wild is an unexpected, perfectly wild adventure for kids of all ages.

SELFIES IN THE WILD (THE ADVENTURES OF LOVEABLE LOBO #6). Text and illustrations copyright © 2016 by C. L. Murphy. Reproduced by permission of the publisher, Peanut Butter Prose. 

Amazon

Find Selfies in the Wild on Goodreads HERE.

C. L. Murphy:  http://lovablelobo.com/
Check out the Blog:  https://lovablelobo.wordpress.com/
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Reprinted with permission from SELFIES IN THE WILD (THE ADVENTURES OF LOVEABLE LOBO #6) © 2016 by C. L. Murphy, Peanut Butter Prose, Illustrations © 2016 by C. L. Murphy.

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Copyright © 2016 by Sue Morris/Kid Lit Reviews. All Rights Reserved

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Selfies in the Wild
(The Adventures of Loveable Lobo, #6)
Written and Illustrated by C. L. Murphy
Peanut Butter Prose 8/01/2016