Selfie Sebastian

PreS-Gr 3-Sebastian is a good-looking fox who loves to take selfies. But no matter what he does, the selfies don't make him happy until he discovers the missing piece: a friend to be in the photo with him. While the premise of this picture book is original and au courant, the execution is somewhat tedious. The peppy beginning is soon bogged down by sentences with awkward tenses like, "Sebastian had forgotten how scared he is of heights, but he will do anything for a perfect selfie." The illustrations, however, are charming throughout. Weiser uses a bright color pencil or very thin markers, which is the perfect medium to show off the expressiveness of the fox or the mid-century modern fox hole, complete with a hot pink tea kettle. A donkey in sunglasses and a bowtie and a crayfish baring her midriff on the red carpet in Hollywood are just two examples of how the illustrations add humor to almost every page. Children may not want to read the text again and again, but they will surely love to look at the handsome fox and his cell phone.