Review: Cottonmouth and the River by C.S. Fritz

 

Title: Cottonmouth and the River

Author: C.S. Fritz

Release date: May 1st, 2014

Pages: 112

Meet Freddie Cottonmouth - A Boy Who Loves the River, Big Adventures, and a Furry Beast named Tug. Tug loves taking Freddie on wild adventures—trips to the moon, building castles, or catching fireflies with Freddie riding on his wide furry back. When Freddie finds a mysterious egg, Tug makes him promise never to eat it. But Freddie is about to discover that broken promises come at a great price. This is the rare children’s story—both bold and tender and brimming with moments of great risk, adventure, and heart. Combining the artistic wonder ofWhere the Wild Things Are with the timeless storytelling of The Polar Express, this story will capture both the imagination and the intelligence of children and their parents as it sheds light on the power of sin, sacrifice, and redemption.

I know it may sound creepy, but I love children's book. At some point I get tired of all the stuff going on in the Young Adult world, the same stories and the same characters. So I usually take a break from that world letting myself touch some magic in children's books. They all have magic somehow, they teach you something and they're easy to read. You can read them without letting go of them and you don't even notice that.

Freddie loves spending time by the river near his house, but someday he finds an egg. With the egg, he also finds Tug, that becomes his friend. The only rule in this game is that Freddie can't eat the egg. When Tug is gone, a rodent tells Freddie that he could get whatever he wants as long as he swallows the egg. 

This is a story about life, about things that don't always go as we planned. I guess this is a really important message, that we should start understanding when we're still children. Because at some point in our lives, if we didn't get that life isn't always as we want it to be, we'll just fall apart, and it's really hard to take the pieces all together, if you know what i mean. 

Freddie is a lost child, but he still has hope, and that is the most beautiful thing that Fritz could add to his book. He has lost both his parents, he lives all alone in their house, but he still wants to live. He still has something to fight for, and he still wants to bring them back somehow.

I really liked this book, and I'm sure this wasn't the last of Freddie Cottonmouth.