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Reviewed by Lois J Wickstrom for Readers' Favorite
Oliver Octopus and the Unwinnable Game, written by Ben Okon and illustrated by Jeevankar Bansiwal, is the story of the day Oliver Octopus helped his friend Sue Stingray learn how to play games with his friends, the cave fish. At the beginning of the story, Sue Stingray thinks that a game is fair if everybody has to play by the same rules. But the cave fish don’t want to play darts with her. Sue explains that she and the cave fish all have to stand the same distance from the target and they have to use the same kind of darts. She doesn’t see what’s unfair about that. Oliver Octopus explains that the cave fish are blind, so they can’t see the target. They have no chance of winning. Nobody wants to play a game they can’t win.
In Oliver Octopus and the Unwinnable Game: Equity vs. Equality, at first, Sue Stingray doesn’t understand. Then Oliver Octopus challenges her to a juggling game. Oliver has eight arms and Sue doesn’t have any. Oliver easily wins and Sue now understands. Young children who are learning how to play games by the rules and how to figure out what is fair will enjoy learning along with Sue Stingray. Parents and children alike will be relieved when Sue Stingray figures out that a blindfolded game, like Pin-the-tail-on-the Whale, will be fair to all the friends – those who can see, and those who can’t. Ben Okon says he writes books so he can learn along with his child. He also wants to teach his child things he wishes he had learned when he was younger.
