Review Title: Not What I Expected (review of An Arkful of Animal Jokes—For Kids! by Barbour Staff)
Reviewer: Janice S. Garey
** 2 Stars

This book has an interesting title and from that initial feature I had hopes to enjoy the book. It was not what I expected.

The title suggests the book is mainly for children. In reading through some of the book, I found a mixture of jokes that were clean but would need a higher level of life experience than most children have to understand the jokes. Perhaps the author and publisher thought that the children would only read those jokes that appear to be for their level. I feel some children might find the book frustrating for their efforts. It could be used as a conversation starter between parents and their children, but not everyone has a good situation for that.

As a Christian, I felt the book used a well known Bible story to produce silliness and disregard of the truth in the story. The Bible already has many who disrespect it. For those who take the Bible seriously, I do not recommend this book.

By utilizing the format of an ABC book about animals in the ark, a quick sale can be made to adults who look only at the title and contents pages. The book has enough material that it could have been broken down into two books according to age appropriateness. Consider your purposes before buying. If you need a few clever jokes for a speaking engagement, this could be used as a resource.

I received this book without cost from #netgalley in exchange for giving my honest review.