The Purple Puffy Coat

by Maribeth Boelts, Daniel Duncan (Illustrator)

Overview

Beetle gives Stick Bug an attention-grabbing coat for his birthday—but is that what Stick Bug really wants? A delightful story about friends learning to understand each other.

It’s almost Stick Bug’s birthday, and his fashionable friend Beetle can’t wait to give him his present—a purple puffy coat! The coat draws a lot of attention and makes Stick Bug really stick out in the crowd. Beetle thinks that’s terrific! He brings Stick Bug all over town, happily boasting and bragging (while Stick Bug waits behind a tree, in a pile of leaves, or under a bench). Oh, dear—maybe Stick Bug isn’t as wild about the purple puffy coat as Beetle is! What can the two friends do? Charming illustrations bring to life both characters’ endearing struggles in this warm and humorous story about learning to pay attention to what makes your friend happy rather than what makes you happy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536204971
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	11/10/2020
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	161,554
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 11.20(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Maribeth Boelts is the author of many books for young readers, including Those Shoes and A Bike Like Sergio’s, both illustrated by Noah Z. Jones; Happy Like Soccer, illustrated by Lauren Castillo; and Kaia and the Bees, illustrated by Angela Dominguez. Maribeth Boelts lives in Iowa.

Daniel Duncan is the author-illustrator of the picture book South and the illustrator of Mr. Posey’s New Glasses, written by Ted Kooser, among other books for children. Daniel Duncan lives outside London.

Editorial Reviews

Boelts’s energetic text and Duncan’s comical, delicate illustrations, showing a thoroughly embarrassed Stick Bug and a delighted Beetle, combine to make this picture book a silly treat that will have readers giggling and pointing while learning valuable social-emotional lessons about personalities and relationships. Delightfully funny and warm.
—Kirkus Reviews

Squat, mustachioed Beetle makes a humorous counterpart to slender, bespectacled Stick Bug, and the addition of the voluminous purple coat to the latter’s stickly form is especially amusing. It’s clear no misbegotten coat will come between the two antennaed friends, and a quick repurposing by Stick Bug allows them both to enjoy it.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

From the Publisher

2020-09-15
Two very different friends learn to appreciate their differences.

Beetle can’t wait for Stick Bug’s birthday next week. Beetle is so excited about the present he got his friend—it is “SO amazing, and you need it SO much”—he decides to give it to him early. It is a big, puffy coat in Beetle’s favorite color. Beetle urges Stick Bug to wear the coat immediately. Stick Bug reluctantly complies. When they walk around the neighborhood, Stick Bug attracts lots of attention. Beetle is sure the pointing and staring is admiration; Stick Bug is not so sure. When Beetle starts to make a new gift for Stick Bug to give him on his actual birthday, he decides to paint a portrait of Stick Bug in his beautiful new coat. But when thinking of how Stick Bug’s face looks when he's wearing his new coat, Beetle realizes that Stick Bug doesn’t love the coat at all. Panicked, he figures out the perfect remedy. Boelts’ energetic text and Duncan’s comical, delicate illustrations, showing a thoroughly embarrassed Stick Bug and a delighted Beetle, combine to make this picture book a silly treat that will have readers giggling and pointing while learning valuable social-emotional lessons about personalities and relationships.

Delightfully funny and warm. (Picture book. 3-8)

Kirkus Reviews