You Call That Brave?

K-Gr 2—A story about exploring individual differences and feeling good about small accomplishments. In order to overcome boredom, a mouse, a frog, a snail, and a sparrow decide to have a competition to decide which among them is the bravest. First, the mouse decides to show that he can swim underwater to the other side of the pond. However, the frog is not impressed, because swimming is a natural activity for him. He utters the repeated phrase, "You call that being brave?" Schärer injects humor into the story with wordless pages, such as the mouse swimming above an enormous fish. Her artwork, created with colored pencils, shows a variety of perspectives and is often stronger than the text. Anticipation builds as the sparrow takes the last turn and demonstrates what being brave really means. It's unlikely that there will be requests for repeated reading of this tale, but finding the details in the illustrations may take multiple page turns back and forth.—Blair Christolon, Prince William Public Library System, Manassas, VA