Extremely Cute Animals Operating Heavy Machinery

Karen and her friends - all extremely cute animals - attempt to build sand castles one summer day at the park, only to watch Skyler and his friends continually smash their efforts. Eventually getting fed up with these bullies, the cute animals resort to the use of heavy machinery, building a massive sand-castle/amusement park, one not so easily destroyed. Fortunately cute animals are "extremely good at including everyone," and let Skyler and his friends enter the park...

I was underwhelmed by this new offering from picture-book author/artist David Gordon, finding the artwork a little flat and the story somewhat unappealing. In trying to put my finger on just what put me off, I find myself coming back to the title, Extremely Cute Animals show more Operating Heavy Machinery. There's an obtrusive quality to it, as there is to much of the text, as if the author doesn't quite trust his readers to see the juxtapositions he is creating, between cuteness and bullies, cuteness and machines, without pointing them out. I also found the ways in which cuteness was linked to good character in the story rather problematic, as good looks are not (in my experience) a guarantee of being a good person. Mileage varies, of course, so others might still want to check this one out, if they are in the market for children's stories about bullying, but I think there are better options out there. show less

My husband wanted more machinery in this book. I'll say that up front (hence why we do not have a "transportation" tag)

It's a great one to use for anti-bullying and getting along. Some books could be better in delivery (and honestly, I have seen cuter animals). But this book does get a good response in storytime.

This book was kind of cute. Some takeaways are people band together to stand up to the bullies, being nice and making the bullies want to change.....and sometimes it takes a while for people to come around.

Sometimes picture books are just weird and I don't get it. This would be one of them.