The Cool Bean Presents: As Cool as It Gets: Over 150 Stickers Inside

PreS-Gr 3–A wonderfully written and illustrated book about Cool Bean, who is nervous about the upcoming holiday party. Every year at the party, the beans exchange gifts. This year, Cool doesn’t know what to get the bean he selected; he doesn’t have the money to buy her something, and he is unsuccessful in finding her a gift. So Cool paints her a picture. He is nervous that he will be laughed at for making his gift and not buying it. But Cool is surprised when everyone loves the gift he made, and he even gets a gift that someone made for him. This wonderful story shows the anxieties and emotions kids and adults can face during the holidays, especially when giving gifts. John does an excellent job describing all the emotions that the beans go through, and Oswald is just as amazing showing the emotions of the bean characters. The beautiful and descriptive pictures are detailed but not super complicated in nature, fitting for the age of children reading this book.