Frank and the Bad Surprise
by Martha Brockenbrough
Illustrated by Jon Lau
Arthur A Levine Book
Levine Querido
Chronicle Books, LLC
2022
64 pages
ISBN: 987164640886
Illustrations by Jon Lau capture the personality and mannerisms of Frank the cat who has the life. He has a warm ray of sun to nap in, humans who love him, quiet times and plenty of Whiskies to eat, that is, until one day, his dear humans bring home a box. At first Frank is excited. A box! He can play in the box, crawling in and out as he pleases.
The box is a good thing indeed until a little, yappy puppy--a puppy who invades his naps, eats his Whiskies, and steals his dear humans' hearts. His humans put Frank in a cage after Frank swats at the puppy. Frank is appalled. How dare they lock him up? This is his home. That was his food. Frank decides to make his dear humans pay. He will run away!
Frank uses the computer keyboard to reason with his dear humans writing them several heartfelt letters begging for them to take away the puppy. He leaves a farewell note and sets off on his own. He soon discovers the big, wide world is not as safe and wonderful as he had imagined. People are mean to him, shooing him away from their doorsteps. He has no Whiskies to eat and no warm place to nap and then when things are beginning to look dark, it starts raining.
Maybe the puppy isn't so bad. His dear humans are excited to see a sopping wet Frank at their front door. Alerted by the puppy's barks, they open the door and let Frank back inside. Later, warm and dry, Frank realizes the puppy has warm fur. Maybe they can sleep side by side. Frank names his puppy Sunny and they sleep throughout the night.
Lovely early chapter book about fitting in, acceptance, being open to change, embracing found family and love. Frank and the Bad Surprise answers the question: Is the grass always greener on the other side?
Highly recommended ages 3 and up.
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