Embarrassed ferret

In this first outing in the Forest School of Big Feelings series, Ferret learns that everyone gets embarrassed sometimes. Her day starts off full of aplomb ("Ferret strolled to school in style, / all silky fur and cheerful smile") but quickly takes a nosedive when she trips in the hallway. More mishaps happen in the classroom. Smart, jaunty rhymes relay Ferret's faux pas, from belting out the wrong words in a circle-time sing-along to getting gobs of glue stuck in her hair at craft time. Full of heart and humor (and phlegm), Tsurumi's comical cartoon illustrations capture the critter's indignities and slipups. During a colossal case of hiccups, she comes undone: "Her cheeks turned red. / Her eyes grew wide. / She curled up and almost cried." Ferret is not the only one dealing with embarrassing situations. When Ms. Bunny passes gas, she turns it into a teachable moment: "All of us have things go wrong. / It doesn't mean we don't belong." A funny, relatable, and reassuring social-emotional conversation starter.

This buoyant series starter focused on social-emotional development kicks off with the eponymous protagonist feeling cool and confident--walking to school "in style,/ all silky fur and cheerful smile," writes Frenkel Riddiough in smartly scanning rhymes. But things go downhill fast via a set of mishaps that include a hallway stumble, a glitter incident, and a craft situation so gluey that the school nurse intervenes. After a painful morning, Ferret thinks that she alone is disaster-prone, but classmates soon experience their own mishaps in front of the water fountain, and a sense of collective emotional equilibrium is fully restored when Ms. Bunny passes gas. The teacher calmly turns the slip into a teachable moment, indicating that "all of us have things go wrong./ It doesn't mean we don't belong." Digital paintings by Tsurumi render endearing facial expressions and relatable incidents--readers will come away knowing just how to survive life's minor mortifications. Ages 3--7. (July)

After a series of mishaps, Ferret finds her place at school. In rhyming text with a singsong cadence, Riddiough recounts an anthropomorphic ferret's fraught school day. All starts well as she walks to school "in style, / all silky fur and cheerful smile." But then Ferret trips and falls when she enters the building, the first of several incidents that embarrass her as the day proceeds in a setting that feels like an updated Busytown Schoolhouse, complete with a Pride flag on the teacher's desk. Slapstick humor in the Richard Scarry--esque illustrations invites readers' laughter as one minor calamity follows another, with Tsurumi displaying an impressive command of perspective and characterization, but the story happily doesn't involve other characters teasing or laughing at poor Ferret, who feels mighty uncomfortable and conspicuous nonetheless. Relief comes with others' awkward moments, culminating with the line, "Ms. Bunny tried to get class started. Instead she accidentally…farted!" In a feat of perfect pacing, this last word falls after the page turn, the accompanying illustration showing a close-up of Ms. Bunny's face in profile, wide-eyed with shock. An educator to her gassy, leporine core, Ms. Bunny quickly recovers and makes a teachable moment of her flatulence, saying, "All of us have things go wrong. / It doesn't mean we don't belong." Ferret out this one for storytimes about building community.(Picture book. 4-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.