Goodreads: Loral County Times: Return to Echo Woods

Author: Lucky Maxwill

Published: 27th November 2017 (Balboa Press)

Source: Copy from Author

Rating: 3/5 (Liked it)

Official Summary: “LORAL COUNTY TIMES: Return to Echo Woods is the introductory tale of people, animals, and adventures in fictional Loral County in Missouri. This rural area is a place where normal activities are not exactly as they appear because of a clever elf named Sam, who has hidden agendas and is only visible to a select population. He is especially perplexing to newcomer Audry Merryweather, a young woman who moves to Echo Woods to take ownership of her family’s historical homestead. Here she unwittingly becomes an accomplice in Sam’s efforts to shelter and provide forever homes for animals. But, she is not alone. Sam is quite resourceful and has many allies with diverse talents—everybody from an animal control officer to a youth home coordinator and even a red-tailed hawk. Altogether, they combat bullies, overcome challenges, and provide a community where all can call home.

Woven within this tale are historical and geographical Missouri references that are hyperlinked to web resources. These offer superior supplemental reading materials for students and educators alike. Subtle humanitarian messages regarding animal welfare and culture, as well as Missouri history, make this a value-added book for young readers.” – Goodreads

Review: The drawings were a really nice touch. Instead of spending ages on trying to descript things, the Author let the drawings speak for the story. The story does try and teach quite a few things, as well as give some history behind a lot of American based stuff. So I would say it based on the highest range of children, like pre-teen to a teenager.

I liked how it taught about looking after animals, how to feed them, walk them and care for them. It also touched on some real issues with people mistreating animals and even animals mills.

It did jump about a bit in places, also some of the conversions felt a bit wooden.

(Disclaimer: I received a free copy from the Author. Does not affect my review)