Like eating at a restaurant called “Mom’s,” there are those who avoid any children’s title with the word “Littlest” in it. What a mistake that would be in this case. Brimner has written a wonderful and reassuring read-aloud, full of comfort, rhythm, and repetition. Aruego and Dewey (Weird Friends, p. 329, etc.) work their familiar magic, with waggish, big-eyed, slightly anthropomorphized animals and brilliantly patterned natural backgrounds. Big Gray (a wolf) is watching his pups, and asks Little One why he is not playing with his brothers and sisters. “Frankie said that I do not roll in a straight line,” he says. And indeed, Little One zigs and zags and rolls in a line with curves. But Big Gray says, “That is just as it should be. . . . Lines without curves come later.” Ana runs like the wind, and says Little One is a slowpoke. Little One runs like a soft breeze, but that too is as it should be—“Running like the wind comes later.” Tyler scoffs at Little One’s pounces, and Big Gray assures him that pouncing as high as the poppies is just as it should be for now. The interaction between dad and pup—Little One clambers onto his father, Big Gray places a huge claw on his son’s head, and by glance and gesture the comfort in the parent’s words become visible. In the end, Big Gray reminds Little One what the tiny acorn he’s been fidgeting with will become. Move over, Leo the Late Bloomer, it’s Little One’s turn. (Picture book. 4-8)
