Charlie Hits It Big is a new children’s book by Deborah Blumenthal about cute little guinea pig that journeys to Hollywood to make it big in the movies. He lands his leading role quickly only to find that his success is hollow without his owner, Sophie.
The best part about this book is the set of illustrations created by Denise Brunkus. They are absolutely adorable. The guinea pig and his adventure come to life in her hands. The story flows from the text of the page onto little notes in the illustrations and ties everything together for the reader. This is an excellent job of book illustration for young children.
The story on the other hand has a few weaknesses, which if corrected, would have made the story much stronger. The story begins with Charlie missing, and already off on his adventure. We never get a chance to see Charlie interact with Sophie, his owner. When Charlie finds himself growing homesick, the author tries to build the relationship through a series of flashbacks. This is moderately successful, but would have been so much stronger if it had been done in the timeline at the beginning, instead of as flashback after the fact.
A continuity break in the story is also a bit distracting. At the beginning of the story, Charlie is traveling to Hollywood via plane, and when he decides to return home, he is able to do so by taxi. The beginning felt as though it was a long journey from perhaps the Midwest to California, whereas the end felt as though he was only hopping from Hollywood to San Diego. Some kids may not even notice the discrepancy; mine however, never missed a break like this in the story line.
Over all, I enjoyed the story of Charlie Hits It Big. It would be fun to read a further adventure of the little guinea pig, although I’d love to have the author take a little more time in crafting the story, and build the relationship between Charlie and Sophie into the strong bond it was meant to be.
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