Anu Stohner

Charlotte was a sheep who was never quite in step with the rest of her flock. Fond of climbing trees and jumping in rivers, unafraid of aging sheepdog Jack, Charlotte's antics constantly set her older ovine companions to tut-tutting. Then one day, when their shepherd fell and broke his leg, and Jack seemed disinclined to run for help, it fell to Charlotte to make her way down the mountainside on her own, to alert the farm to the accident...

I can't recall, at this point, how I heard about show more this German picture-book - author Anu Stohner is an expatriate Finn living in Munich, while illustrator Henrike Wilson lives in Cologne - but I'm glad that it came to my attention. I thought that Wilson's illustrations, done in acrylic paint on cardboard, were really quite lovely, and I will be looking for more of her work. Unfortunately, the narrative didn't impress me quite as much, although I did appreciate the message that being an individual, and marching to the beat of your own drummer, can be a strength. Somehow, though, the story just didn't ring true: I know that the point here is that Charlotte is adventurous, but some of her decisions seemed rather odd (dangerous even), and her "hitch-hiking" adventure just wasn't that convincing.

I vacillated between two and three stars with this one, only settling on three because I do like to see children's books from abroad make it to the American market, and because I enjoyed the artwork. show less

I had mixed feelings about the book, “Santa’s Littlest Helper Travels the World.” I liked this book because it was a Christmas story set in different parts of the world. This story addresses many different countries celebrating the same holiday. The illustrations depicted each place very well. Particularly, the tall buildings symbolized New York City, the Eiffel Tower symbolized Paris, and the small canals symbolized Italy. Therefore, readers are able to connect these well-known show more features to each country. The language in this story was descriptive in reference to each place they visited. For example, “Another city was built in the sea, and the streets were made of big and small canals instead of roads.” This sentence clearly explains the illustration pictured, with Santa’s helper on a boat (Italy). Contrarily, I was confused with this book because although there were helpers, Santa was not included or addressed. Instead, his helpers were delivering presents. I think this would be somewhat confusing to children, and they would continuously be asking, “Where’s Santa?” However, I think this story’s main idea was to share an exciting Christmas story about helping one another. show less

Brave Charlotte the sheep frees her herd from fear, rescues a puppy, and pranks some annoying blowhards all at the same time. Go Brave Charlotte! Not bad -- I'll pick up the first in the series.

I liked the story, “Santa’s Littlest Helper” because of the main character, Santa’s hardest-working helper. Specifically speaking, “He was always the first to bring a Christmas tree back from the great forest, the first to clean his sleigh, polish his boots and spruce up his red Christmas coat.” Unfortunately, this never seemed to be enough. Santa Claus explained every year that the littlest helper was too little to deliver the presents. Disappointed, the littlest helper walked show more home. Luckily, on his way he found an even better job, delivering presents to all the forest animals! In addition to the main character, the painted illustrations were appealing and vivid, especially of all the forest animals opening their presents. The illustrator used dark, thick lines in order to separate the differing colors from each other, making them stand out. My favorite part of this story comes from its message that even the smallest of people can make a big difference, something children may easily relate to. show less