Chuck and Woodchuck

From award-winning talent Cece Bell, a sweetly offbeat story about two shy first-graders and the woodchuck who helps them become friends.

When Caroline’s classmate Chuck brings Woodchuck to show-and-tell, Woodchuck is so funny that their teacher says he can come to school every day! Woodchuck is friendly to everyone, but he’s especially sweet to Caroline. He gives her Chuck’s hat when her ears get cold and Chuck’s cupcake when she drops hers. But when Caroline forgets her lines during the class play, it’s not Woodchuck who comes to the rescue. A perfect read-aloud for facilitating friendships, this charming story recognizes that sometimes, making a connection takes time — but is worth the wait.

“...kids will undoubtedly find Woodchuck's antics cool... [he] rather steals the show. -Kirkus Reviews”

Bell’s warm and colorful graphic style, which uses ink and digital illustrations, embraces the many personalities of the class, as well as giving off the happy vibes of burgeoning affection. The bright and cheerful double-page spreads show the toothsome, fuzzy-tailed, lovable Woodchuck comically facilitating a flowering friendship.
—Booklist

It’s an odd little story, engagingly illustrated with clear, unfussy ink and digital pictures in a cheerful school setting that make the action easy to follow...This is probably the first woodchuck matchmaker in a picture book, and he’s a feisty and endearing one—with good instincts, too; Chuck and Caroline seem made for each other.
—The Horn Book

A first-grader named Caroline narrates this beguilingly offbeat story from Bell (I Yam a Donkey), drawn in the artist's characteristic childlike style...Chuck's cumulative acts of kindness draw attention from Woodchuck's flashiness to a deeper place, and Bell's creation respects the intense emotions of schoolroom crushes.
—Publishers Weekly Online

Bell’s charming cartoon illustrations are humorous and have a retro feel to them...The story is told from Caroline’s point of view, and it is pitch-perfect. This will be a fun classroom read-aloud, since it goes through the whole school year. Children will be clamoring for their own woodchuck once they read this tale—where did Chuck find his?
—School Library Journal

The gently budding friendship (and perhaps a bit of romance?) between Chuck and Caroline has a quiet appeal that is balanced nicely with Woodchuck’s amusing antics. Caroline’s casual narration is credibly primary-grade (“Woodchuck started playing with some of our show-and-tell stuff! It was hilarious!”), as is Chuck’s shyness...Pull this out to refresh a Groundhog Day story session or share it as a sweet-but-not-sticky friendship story.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Cece Bell is the author-illustrator of the Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book Rabbit and Robot: The Sleepover. She is also the creator of the Newbery Honor–winning graphic novel El Deafo and the Sock Monkey picture books, among other works for children. Cece Bell lives in Virginia.

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