Brudders Learns The Joy of Saying Thank You by K.A. Leigh
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
In the launch of the Brudders read-aloud series, K.A. Leigh and husband Derek Roberts, have developed a main character, a whimsical world and visual style that children and adults will find seductive. I received an Advance Reader Copy through Reedsy Discovery. Brudders Learns the Joy of Saying Thank You, and the first book, Brudders Learns How to Make Friends, can lighten and brighten any story time.
Parents often find themselves urging their offspring to express gratitude. The expression of feelings as part of custom eludes many people. Leigh’s text drew back my memory to the many times my mother or father would urge, “say thank you,” in the aftermath of a kind gesture or compliment. One of the cleverest aspects of this book is that the lesson focuses on how “thank you” can affect other people.
Early readers who listen to The Joy of Saying Thank You cannot help but be drawn to the colorful settings Roberts lays across every page. His brief bio states that from childhood the California native was drawn more to images than words. Readers see the love in the illustrations. The forest home and country side in this brief story of manners invites the eye and places those who share the book in the scene. That said, K.A. (Kristin) Leigh is no less masterful in the imaginative script.
Her softly lyrical narrative pulls listeners and readers will be pulled into the action more than the rhyme:
Early in the morning, in the woods outside Brudders’ tree home… The beautiful sun was rising and the squirrels were starting to roam.
As is evident in the above sample from the first page, the focus is on storytelling more than the cuteness of sound. As the author explains, the idea is that children develop emotional intelligence. As they listen to Brudders and his friends’ actions, most children will see themselves and learn.
For clarity, The Joy of Saying Thank You is the second installment in what might become a long series of works. A visit to the author’s website shows the books mirror each other in look and purpose, but the Brudders character fits squarely in the tradition of A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh. In fact, the book is proof – to paraphrase the Pooh author – that the smallest things can take up the most room in your heart.
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