Rhonda is a young panda who, in addition to eating, only wants to sleep. She is extremely lazy. Her brother, Cato, ends up playing alone because Rhonda is always too tired. One day, his parents and brother take him to visit his cousin, Karla. Karla and Rhonda are so excited to spend time together and, of course, play lots of games. Rhonda the Panda is a story that teaches children that playing games is more fun than sitting idle. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get an original essayThere is either an illustration or a few lines of text on each of the 36 pages of this book. The book is formatted with an illustration on one page and writing on the next. I like this setup; this gives the child time to look at the images while the parent/guardian reads the script. Conversely, if the child learns to read, the writing appears clearly enough without images to confuse it. The illustrations in this book are remarkable. I absolutely adore them. The pandas are all drawn with perfect scale and likeness. Usually, images depicting movement are ones where the illustrations are insufficient, but these are done wonderfully. The colors are bright and vibrant and will easily hold the child's attention. Unfortunately, that's where the positives end. I think the story is good, but there's no real direction as to where it's going. Rhonda starts out as a panda who doesn't like to be active, but she is happy to play with Karla. Why is she playing with Karla and not her brother? Why is Karla so special? There is not enough explanation as to why things happen the way they do. On the way to Karla's house, Rhonda, her parents and her brother pass a kind of playground called "Bamboo Gym Camp". There are lots of other pandas playing there that are around Rhonda's age. Yet the family only looks at the camp in passing. Why is this place even featured? As far as I can tell, this doesn't add anything to the story. Maybe this is there to prove that pandas playing together have a lot of fun. Whatever the reason, it shouldn't always be the reader's responsibility to link. The story itself isn't very good either. There are a few commas missing and the capitalization of Mom and Dad is incorrect throughout the story. One of the things that bothers me the most is how the word "a lot" is repeated multiple times in the story. This is a children's book, and the fact that a word is repeated so often shows a lack of imagination – or a lack of thesaurus. Keep in mind: this is just a sample. Get a personalized article from our expert writers now. Get a Personalized Essay I rate Rhonda the Panda 2 stars out of 4. The illustrations carry this book. The storyline needs to be more concise and the direction needs to be defined. I would recommend this book to young children (ages 2-5) because the graphics are truly fantastic. Otherwise, this story needs some inspiration before I can recommend it to anyone else..