YES WE CAN!

The author of the wildly successful Guess How Much I Love You (1995) tackles competition and compromise. Little Roo, Quacker Duck and Country Mouse are having fun playing in the leaves. Things go awry when Roo boasts to Duck that Roo can jump over logs unlike Duck. Duck responds by having a go, only to fall down. Mouse, who laughs, is dared to float on a puddle, which is Duck’s specialty. However, Mouse cannot float. Little Roo finds this amusing and is dared to catch his own tail—Mouse’s exceptional talent. Of course, this results in three sulky friends sitting on a log ignoring each other. Fuge’s illustration of their petulant frowns is quite amusing. Luckily, Little Roo’s mummy comes to figure out the problem. She shows them that they should be proud of their own unique talents. Illustrations of the animals are fun but the background is a bit confusing. In some spreads, it looks like summer, luxuriously verdant. Other pages appear to represent autumn. But this is a minor quibble, as the universal subjects covered will be both helpful and enjoyable for young children. (Picture book. 3-6)