Sam isn’t afraid of anything, except letting his friends know that he’s sometimes scared. He does daring feats on the playground, watches scary movies without closing his eyes and makes fun of his friend, Max, who is afraid of everything. But that all changes when Sam finds a spider on his hand. While he’s paralyzed and cries, Max calmly removes the spider. Now Sam really has something to fear—that Max will tell his friends that Sam’s a scaredy-cat. A nighttime chat with his Dad, though, leads Sam to realize that everyone is afraid of something, and that’s okay. Even Max benefits—seeming brave in Sam’s eyes, he becomes more willing to try new things. Goossens’s oils suit the youngest listeners, with close-ups on the characters and few distracting details. Robberecht’s text is the perfect springboard for conversations with young children about fear, bravery, teasing and peer pressure. (Picture book. 3-7)
