Rhonda is a young panda who, in addition to eating, just wants to sleep. She is extremely lazy. Her brother Cato ends up playing alone because Rhonda is always too tired. One day, her parents and brother take her to visit her 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 is more fun than sitting idle. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay On each of the 36 pages of this book there is an illustration or a few lines of text. The book is formatted with an illustration on one page and writing on the next. I like this setup; gives the child time to look at the pictures while the parent/guardian reads the script. On the contrary, if the child is learning to read, the writing is quite clear without confusing images. The illustrations in this book are exceptional. I absolutely love them. The pandas are all drawn with perfect scale and likeness. Usually, images depicting movement are the ones where the illustrations fall short, but these are beautifully done. The colors are bright and vibrant and will easily attract baby's attention. Unfortunately, that's where the positives end. I think the story is fine, but there's no real focus on where it's headed. Rhonda starts out as a panda who doesn't like to be active, but is happy to play with Karla. Why does he play with Karla and not with his brother? Why is Karla so special? There is no sufficient 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 several other pandas playing there who are around Rhonda's age. Yet, all the family does is watch the field go by. Why is this place there? As far as I can tell, it adds nothing to the story. Maybe it's there to show that pandas playing together have a lot of fun. Whatever the reason, it shouldn't always be the reader's duty to make the connection. The actual narrative isn't very good either. Some commas are missing and there are incorrect capitalizations for Mom and Dad throughout the story. One of the things that bothers me the most is how the word “many” is repeated several times in the story. This is a children's book and to have a word repeated so often shows lack of imagination or lack of a thesaurus. Please note: this is just an example. Get a custom paper from our expert writers now. Get a Custom Essay I rate Rhonda the Panda 2 stars out of 4. The illustrations carry this book. The plot needs to be more concise and the direction needs to be defined. I would recommend this book to younger children (ages 2-5) because the artwork is really great. Otherwise, this story needs inspiration before I can recommend it to anyone else.