Sammy Steals the Show by Emlyn Chand

Sammy Steals the Show by Emlyn Chand
Illustrations by Noelle Giffin

Paperback: 56 pages
Publisher: Evolved Publishing (May 28, 2014)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1622531310
ISBN-13: 978-1622531318

Sammy is a talented young cockatiel who loves to sing out of his open apartment window for all of Australia to hear. One day, he watches a reality singing competition with his human friend, Lisa, and knows that if he could just audition, he would surely win. ~ What follows is a masterful escape, an eventful journey to the Sydney Opera House, and an audition the crew of “Sing Your Heart Out” will never forget. Will Sammy take home the title of Australia’s next rising star, or will he find something more important along the way? ~ There’s only one way to find out: join Sammy in his humorous adventure of fame, friendship, and fun, in this edition of the color-illustrated “Bird Brain Books” series for children.

Thoughts
Sammy is a cute cockatiel who lives in Sydney, Australia with his owner Lisa. Sammy loves to sing and all his bird friends keep telling him what a great voice he has. After watching a tv show similar to American Idol, he decides to fly to where it’s taped and audition so that the world can enjoy his talent.

When he gets there he realizes how much Lisa should be a part of his being discovered and that nothing is more important than his relationship with her. So he decides to fly back home. He doesn’t want Lisa to come home and see that he’s missing. He makes it back just in time.

This is a cute short story with the message that nothing is more important than the people you love and love you. I think this would be a great book to give any child.

The illustrations are cute but the cover shows Sammy with two of the three contest judges. I don’t really like the frowny face on the man, especially since this is such an upbeat story. I think the cover would have been much more appealing with an illustration of Sammy and Lisa.

 From an early age, Emlyn Chand has counted books among her best friends. She loves to hear and tell stories and emerged from the womb with a fountain pen grasped firmly in her left hand (true story). Her affinity for the written word extends to absolutely every area of her life: she has published fiction across multiple genres, oversees and contributes as both an editor and an author to the Novel Publicity Guides for Writing & Marketing Fiction series, and loves the written word so much, she even married author Falcon Storm! Don’t forget that she is the founder and president of Novel Publicity too.
The book that changed Emlyn’s life is Harold and the Purple Crayon by Crocket Johnson. It opened her eyes to the world that could exist if only she was willing to create it—a lesson she has never forgotten. Maybe that’s why she loves writing her Bird Brain Book series for children so much!

Emlyn’s first novel, Farsighted, won the prestigious Writer’s Digest Self-Published Novel of the Year award in 2012 for the YA category. She now writes most of her fiction under her real name, Melissa Storm.

 Noelle Giffin is an illustrator currently residing in sunny Los