Review of "The Last Golden Egg"

The Last Golden Egg by Odette B Lezama Rodriguez

My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Age Recommendation: Middle grade

Description from Goodreads: Alexander is chosen to become the protector of the medieval King Andrew's golden egg that is thought to bring prosperity and contented, peacefulness over his realm. Alexander finds that his simple peasant life style changes dramatically. Will he remain true to his childhood virtue of honesty after being falsely accused? A three way pursuit of the egg catches innocent Alexander in the middle. How will his King come to learn the truth, that Clifford Clawfoot is really to blame? Or is he? Will the farm, forest, and ocean animals be able to rescue Alexander and the egg in time? What could happen if there was no egg?

My thoughts:
Written as a fable. It has a great moral and teaches honesty and friendship.  This could be a great inspirational book for parents trying to help their children see the reward in being honest.

A kingdom is prosperous because of their belief in a golden egg. The king grows old and can no longer care for the egg. He searches for and then hires an honest nine year old boy to take care of it for him. Alexander is a good boy whose best friends are a dog and a horse.

The egg is stolen and his animal friends rally to help Alexander clear his name and find the egg. In the end everyone realizes that they were prosperous because of they way they treated each other and not because of an egg. There is a happily ever after appeal to this story.

The idea behind the story is fabulous. But,  I felt like it was drawn out to reach a certain number of words. I could hear the voice of the author.  To me I could hear the expounding and the telling of the story, but  I lost interest. I did continue to the end and loved the direction the story went, it just fell a little flat for me.  The book is 28 pages long.

About the author:

Born in Southern California, Odette B. Lezama Rodriguez spent many hours as a child writing

poems and adventure stories, just for fun. She was inspired to write this book for her six year old

son. Now a grandmother, she has finally fulfilled her dream of becoming an author.

For more information, visit thetheauthor's webpage www.outskirtspress.com/thelastgoldenegg

I received this book in exchange for an honest review.