Marvin has friends, sports, adults who need his help and more but he is blissfully unaware of all that. He has his eyes and attention on only one thing: a toy robot! He HAS to have it!
Must Have Marvin
Written by Christy Ziglar
Illustrated by Luanne Marten
Ideals Children’s Books
April 2014
Martin uses all of his money to buy the robot and then excitedly goes from friend to friend to show them and is disappointed and confused about why they aren't as interested in the robot as he is. He has the greatest toy in the world but he's feeling unsatisfied. What gives?
Like Ziglar's excellent
Can't Wait Willow (which we awarded a 2013 Booky for book of the year), a star character visually represents the rightness or wrongness of the behavior exhibited on each panel. When Martin is disappointing his friends the star is disappointed. When reading this with your child calling out the star and asking what the star is feeling helps bring home the message of the book. In the end, when Martin realizes that it is his friends that truly enrich his life the star is exuberant! And so are little readers.
Unlike Willow, who does appear in this book as a friend, Martin's lesson isn't as clearly grasped - at least by my children. Willow made sense immediately. Martin started conversations about what they wanted. Over time, the lesson can be learned but the excitement about the possession isn't demonstrably negative until his crisis with his friends.
In my opinion, this just isn’t as sharp as the first book but it's still very good and worth reading with kids.
