The Bravest of the Brave

April 1, 2005
PreS-Gr 1 -Walking quickly and thinking "brave thoughts," a young skunk makes its way home through a dimly lit forest and is startled by different woodland creatures. The rhyming story turns out to be a counting book, starting with "1 masked face" (a raccoon hiding in the shadows) and ending with "10 stars [that] twinkle while I sleep." After being frightened by ghosts (owls), trappers (spiders), witches (porcupines), and pirates (flying squirrels), the skunk sees "6 strong arms" and gets ready to raise its tail in self-defense, but soon realizes that the limbs belong to family members. Now safe, the traveler relates the tale to an appreciative audience of animals. Bowers creates a pleasant-looking protagonist with a fluffy crown of white fur and a lush white tail. The woods are filled with velvet greens and chocolate browns, reassuring colors that show youngsters that the landscape might be dark, but certainly isn't scary. Pair this story with Lauren Thompson's "Little Quack's Bedtime" (S & S, 2005) for some tranquil sleepy-time fun." -Lisa Gangemi Kropp, Middle Country Public Library, Centereach, NY"

Copyright 2005 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2005
When a little skunk hurries home through the dark forest, a robber, two ghosts, three trappers (or so the skunk thinks), and so on frighten him. The engaging illustrations in dark greens and browns reveal the menaces to be one raccoon, two owls, three spiders, etc. The rhymes are bouncy and the tale reassuring, but the occasional outsize words scattered throughout the text are disruptive.

(Copyright 2005 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)