Books like The Thing Lou Couldn't Do
By Ashley Spires
For the kid who will happily wrestle an imaginary dragon but goes quiet the second a real climbing wall shows up, Lou's stalling tactics will feel uncomfortably, wonderfully familiar. Funny, honest, and quietly encouraging, with a healthy dose of stubborn kid-logic.
A fearless older mouse who's afraid of nothing sets off alone on a new way home after calling her sister a scaredy-cat — until she ends up lost and needs rescuing.
An anxious squirrel refuses to leave his nut tree, keeping an emergency kit ready for tarantulas, sharks and killer bees — until an accident finally knocks him right out of it.
A koala named Kevin clings safely to his tree, too nervous to come down and join the other animals — until his tree falls and the ground he always feared is suddenly unavoidable.
A fiercely protective squirrel guards her babies with a determined chook-chook-chook, scaring off trouble again and again — until something much bigger wanders right onto her tree.
A young penguin named Pip-Pip longs to swim in the sea with his friends, but fear of the water holds him back until he finds the courage to take the plunge.
A dressmaker's daughter sets out alone through a fierce snowstorm to deliver a duchess's ball gown, battling howling wind and deep drifts to complete her mother's errand.
An egg named Humpty Dumpty loves nothing more than watching birds from high on the city wall — until a great fall leaves him terrified of heights, and he must find the courage to climb again.
A mouse dentist and his wife treat animals of all kinds for toothaches — with one strict rule against dangerous creatures — until a fox in agony forces them to break it.
A boy who's passed his swim test insists he's ready to jump off the diving board, then finds himself stalling with stretches and stories while working up the nerve to actually do it.
When every girl at the Paris boarding school falls sick on Christmas Eve, the smallest and bravest one stays well enough to take charge — and finds unexpected help from a magical rug-selling merchant.
A mouse named Chester has one way of doing everything, and his best friend Wilson happily matches him move for move — until a bold new neighbor named Lilly moves in with her own way of doing things entirely.
A boardinghouse girl in nineteenth-century Paris spots a quiet stranger walking on air across the courtyard and begs him to teach her — not knowing he's a once-famous wire-walker now gripped by fear.
