The Thing Lou Couldn’t Do written & illustrated by Ashley Spires
Published by Kids Can Press
Date: 2 May 2017
What delightful fun Lou and her friends have. Most of the time Lou is very brave and will try all sort of new fun things, but sometimes Lou is unsure. Lou and her friends use their imagination to be pirates, explorers and rescuers of wild animals, but when one of Lou’s friends suggest they climb a tree Lou’s response is simply “Ummm…”
As you follow Lou’s journey you soon see that this book teaches children about resilience and perseverance. The ending is unexpected, but the message of the book is still LOUD and Clear…Keep on trying and NEVER give up! The positive messages are strong, which are important to the emotional development of children.
The illustrations are lovely and the faces of Lou and her friends show a lot of emotion. I appreciate that the characters come from a range of cultures and have a variety of challenges such as needing classes to see properly. The cultural differences have not been highlighted but fit naturally into the story. There is a good ratio of text to illustration, and the words are easy to read which makes this a good book for both children learning to read and to read to a group or one-on-one.
This book is out in a week and 1 day and I highly recommend this for anyone that enjoys picture books.
Thank you to NetGalley and Kids Can Press for the opportunity to read this book for an honest review.
Little Big Reads 