The Green Umbrella

Reviewed by: Connie Smith - Breakwater School, Portland, Southern Maine Library District

Review Date: January 9, 2018

Review

The lovely, soft watercolor illustrations in "The Green Umbrella," compliment the gentleness and kindness demonstrated in this endearing and imaginative picture book.

This would be a wonderful book to share when doing a unit on friendship: treating our friends with respect and compassion, helping children to understand that we all see things differently, that we are all unique, and that we all have our own ways of doing things. And, most importlantly, we can still can still be good friends, and perhaps even better friends, as we come to value and recognize these differences.

Hedgehog, Cat, Bear, and even an old Rabbit, each claim that Elephant has their green umbrella. They each try to convince Elephant that the green umbrella belongs to them, by regaling Elephant with the wonderful adventures they've each had with the umbrella. Elephant reluctantly gives up his green umbrella to the old Rabbit who is sweating on a terribly hot day. Next, Cat suggests that he can make them all a cup of tea which then leads to the entire group enjoying a marvelous picnic atop a green hill - where they begin to brainstorm the many possible adventures that they might have all together with the green umbrella.

Overall Book Score: very good