#LEE AND LIMBO PICTURE BOOK REVIEW

Uzoma (Uzo) Ezekwudo

Author

| Website: Naturenurturemade.com

LEE AND LIMBO

Uzoma (Uzo) Rita Ezekwudo, author

Enter Book Website

Category: Fiction: General Fiction (including literary and historical); Audience: Children/Young Adult

Synopsis: Animals, like human beings, experience deep emotional bonds, too. Lee and Limbo is a story of genuine friendship and love between two cats in Chapel Hill, a beautiful, small University town in North Carolina where love abounds. When Lee suddenly left, Limbo became sad and depressed. It was heartbreaking watching her deteriorated over the years. Just when Limbo was on a brink of despair, a miracle happened! A heartfelt tribute to friendship, loss, resilience, hope, and joy that come when they’re needed most. “Friends come and go, but life continues and gets better.” Appreciate your old friends; make and enjoy the new ones. Lee and Limbo is a well-illustrated, vibrant picture book with music for kids three and up. It’s about having fun while learning valuable life lessons about: love, friendship, disappointment, loss of a loved one, a pet, growing up, school life, anxiety, and trouble socializing. The story is a heartwarming way to look at a loss with gratitude and hope instead of heartbreak, great for a bedtime story. Illustrations are bright, lively, and emotionally expressive. The book is a BOWL OF JOY for family, school, community, and youth entertainment. Children may learn to sing, read music notes, and play musical instruments.

Publishers Weekly Reviews

Themes of friendship, loss, and healing permeate Ezekwudo's picture book tale of two country cats, Lee and Limbo. Limbo visits Lee every day at 7 Lamar Lane, and together they stretch on the grass, play hide and seek, chase butterflies in the garden, and drink water from the birdbath. When Lee's owner moves away, taking Lee along, Limbo is devastated, unable to muster the enthusiasm for much besides meowing sadly and pawing at the windows of Lee's old house, hoping for Lee’s return [21]. One day she finds a new family of two children, a cat, Eli, and a Poodle, Sugar, has moved in. Soon enough, the children grow fond of Limbo. And, so do Eli and Sugar. But with Lee still on Limbo's mind, will Limbo ever move past the grief of losing an old, dear friend and start making new ones?

Ezekwudo and illustrator Zulfikar Rachman depict Limbo’s loneliness with grace and feeling, offering young readers an uncomplicated examination of themes of loss, change, and acceptance. Rachman's digital and hand paintings enliven the cat’s lush world with affecting nuances and evocative settings. Employing bright tones for cheerful sequences, Rachman ably contrasts Limbo's despair and loneliness with darker tones.

Diverse human characters and sensitive narration amplify the plot's welcoming warmth, and, together, Ezekwudo and Rachman infuse this ultimately hopeful and engaging tale with a poignant delicacy. The pacing, however, occasionally loses steam owing to verbosity. Nonetheless, this picture book makes for a wholesome bedtime read complete with notation for a cheerful song, “Make New Friends.” Also present is a helpful questionnaire inviting readers to contemplate the tale’s themes. Casting a steady and perceptive light at the loneliness and devastation that comes with losing a friendship, Lee and Limbo stands as memorable juvenile fiction replete with accessible wisdom.

Takeaway: Readers aged 4-8 will find much to appreciate in this pleasing tale of friendship between cats.

Great for fans of: Elisha Cooper’s Big Cat, Little Cat, Caron Lewis and Charles Santoso’s Ida, Always

Production grades Cover: A Design and typography: A- Illustrations: A- Editing: B- Marketing copy: B+

Ezekwudo and Rachman infuse this ultimately hopeful and engaging tale with a poignant delicacy. The pacing, however, occasionally loses steam owing to verbosity. Nonetheless, this picture book makes for a wholesome bedtime read complete with notation for a cheerful song, “Make New Friends.” Also present is a helpful questionnaire inviting readers to contemplate the tale’s themes. Casting a steady and perceptive light at the loneliness and devastation that comes with losing a friendship, Lee and Limbo stands as memorable juvenile fiction replete with accessible wisdom.

Date: 02/08/2021

1