Title: James’ Courageous Act
Author: Angelina Charles
Publisher: PageTurner Press and Media, LLC
ISBN: 979-8-88963-611-3
Pages: 28
Genre: Illustrated Children’s Book
Reviewed by: Beth Adams
Hollywood Book Reviews
Author Angelina Charles has created a kind and loving children’s story in her book titled James’ Courageous Act. In this story, readers are introduced to James, a normal and polite 9-year-old boy who passes by an old lady’s home on his way to and from school each day. One day James does not see the lady on her porch, sitting with her cat alongside, and thinks it is odd not to see her. Again, on his way home from school that day, the nice old lady is missing from her porch chair. The next day, both on his way to school and returning home, James does not see the old lady at all and is very worried something might have happened. So, he persuades his mother to go with him to the lady’s home to check-up on her. Sure enough, as they look through the glass window in the door, they see the lady passed-out on the floor, with her cat alongside trying to comfort its owner.
James makes an urgent call to 9-1-1 and paramedics rush over and take the elderly lady to the hospital where she stays for five days before being discharged to go home. Worried about her cat, James tells her that each day he went over to her house and fed the cat, and cleaned its litter box. Wanting to thank James and his mother for saving her life, the lady, Ms. Davis, invites them over for a dinner where she gives James a shiny medal to wear as a token of her appreciation.
The book pages smoothly with very artistic illustrations helping children put a visual story-board to the narration, making the book an impactful and enjoyable read. The moral can be a lesson for those who feel something is odd or wrong, and to take initiative above-and-beyond respecting privacy to do something – which, in this case, was saving Ms. Davis from a life-threatening situation. The reward of being given a medal made James very proud indeed.
James’ Courageous Act ends with a happily-ever-after mood of all of the characters, and author Angelina Charles provides a page for children to color-in, plus some rhetorical questions – which are a perfect way to spark a conversation about the details of the story between children and their parents.
I believe this book is ideal for the younger-years of beginning book reading, which will imprint respect, awareness, and being a thoughtful neighbor to all those people in one’s life – which is a good thing. Plus, the happy ending is also enjoyed by Ms. Davis’ cat, which will make the animal-lover in all of us smile.