Review - There's a Ghost in My Root Beer!

There's a Ghost in My Root Beer!
by Kimberly Garland
illustrated by Chad Thompson
Date: 2019
Publisher: Dog Ear Publishing
Reading level: C
Book type: picture book non-fiction
Pages: 34
Format: e-book
Source: NetGalley

There's a Ghost in My Root Beer! is a delightfully unique and entertaining story of a young child, curious to find out just what is making his root beer come to life in this fun-filled adventure of discovery and imagination!

(synopsis from Goodreads)

This book has potential, but it also has a few issues.

My e-book copy has really wonky formatting. It took a few moments for me to realize that the text was one page ahead of the illustrations. (I don't know if that will have been fixed in the final copy, as I read an ARC.)

Also, the book is written in rhyming text, but unlike most books in rhyme, the verses aren't set off by line breaks. So everything on each page is just mushed into one paragraph. The verse seems a bit clunky, but it may have helped if I'd known where to take a pause.

The illustrations are cute, and show the results of the boy's imagination quite well. Although I'm not sure if any child would really think there's a ghost in their root beer (imagination's great, but a ghost in a beverage just seems... odd), the premise sort of works for this story.

There's a simple experiment at the end that kids can do with the help of adults. I can foresee things getting sticky, though.

Overall, this isn't bad, but the layout could use some work, and for a book that purportedly explains carbonation, it could've used a few more facts (such as how the carbon dioxide gets into the liquid to make a carbonated drink).

Thank you to NetGalley and Dog Ear Publishing for providing a digital ARC.

Premise: 3/5
Meter: 2/5
Writing: 2/5
Illustrations: 3/5
Originality: 4/5

Enjoyment: 3/5

Overall: 2.86 out of 5