Stick by Steve Breen

This is one of my newest almost-favorite picture books. Stick is a little frog who wants to do everything all by himself. But with a very sticky tongue, things don't work out as he expects and he goes on a wild, tongue-pulling journey!

I love the many shades of green throughout the illustrations and Stick's adventures are perfectly and hilariously expressed through variously-sized panels.

My only quibble is the text. It's really unnecessary, as the pictures tell the story all by themselves and it's obvious at first glance that this could be a perfect wordless book. The text doesn't add to the story, just fills in what the reader is seeing and distracts from the perfect sequencing of the plot in the pictures. Still, for those who want to use this in storytime and have trouble with improvisation, the text will be a useful frame for discussing the illustrations.

Verdict: Highly recommended.


ISBN: 978-0803731240; Published March 2007 by Dial; Borrowed from the library; Purchased for the library; Purchased for my personal collection