Charlie Chooses

by Lou Peacock, Nicola Slater (Illustrator)

Overview

Charlie has a hard time choosing. It doesn't matter if the choice is between flavors of ice cream, pairs of underwear, or whether to sleep with the lights on or off—the options are always overwhelming. In fact, it’s easier when Charlie doesn’t choose at all. However, with Charlie’s birthday fast approaching, he is determined to choose the absolute best gift for himself: a dog! And when a furry friend chooses him instead, making decisions suddenly becomes a little bit easier.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536217278
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	05/18/2021
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	521,552
Product dimensions:	10.00(w) x 11.50(h) x 0.60(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Lou Peacock has a degree in English literature from Oxford University and has worked in children’s publishing for more than twenty years. She started her editorial career working on novelty books and poetry, but has focused on picture books for the last eighteen years and often writes picture books for Nosy Crow, including Mr. Brown's Bad Day, Nuts!, Oliver Elephant, and Lionel and the Lion’s Share.

Nicola Slater began her career as an usher, but then chose to study illustration, where she developed a passion for children’s books that far surpassed her love of popcorn. She is also the illustrator of Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star and Happy Birthday to You! She lives with her family in Cheshire, England.

Editorial Reviews

Peacock’s text humorously conveys Charlie’s worries about making the wrong choices without ever stooping to poke fun while Slater’s cartoon art adopts a retro style that makes the picture book feel somehow familiar. . . When Charlie finally does decide that a pet dog would be the perfect birthday present, he confronts his biggest conundrum yet: which pup to pick at the animal shelter?. . . In a pitch-perfect ending, the perfect pup chooses Charlie, relieving him of the need to make a decision and giving him a companion who helps ease his worries from that point on. . . Choose this one, for sure.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

Concise and well attuned to the audience, the narrative leaves plenty of space for the illustrator to expand the storytelling visually. While the colorful digital artwork is inviting throughout, kids are likely to linger longest on the pages filled with dogs and look back through the pictures for glimpses of Charlie’s canine companion. A satisfying picture book for dog-lovers.
—Booklist

Written by Lou Peacock and illustrated with retro exuberance by Nicola Slater, the book puts a humorous cast on what can be, for the possessor, a frustrating personality trait. . . . What’s neat about the seek-and-find detail in Ms. Slater’s pictures is that, even as children experience Charlie’s indecision, they’ll be practicing the art of noticing their own preferences.
—The Wall Street Journal

From the Publisher

★ 2021-03-17
An indecisive child is chosen.

Poor Charlie is an anxious little boy. He can’t make even small decisions about things like ice cream and underwear, never mind choosing the present he wants for his birthday. Peacock’s text humorously conveys Charlie’s worries about making the wrong choices without ever stooping to poke fun while Slater’s cartoon art adopts a retro style that makes the picture book feel somehow familiar. A sleepless, wide-eyed Charlie lying in bed uncertain whether he wants the light on or off will elicit sympathy. When Charlie finally does decide that a pet dog would be the perfect birthday present, he confronts his biggest conundrum yet: which pup to pick at the animal shelter? This is where Slater’s illustrations truly shine, with depictions of a range of dog breeds that seem like a mashup of Sandra Boynton’s and Christian Robinson’s styles. In a pitch-perfect ending, the perfect pup chooses Charlie, relieving him of the need to make a decision and giving him a companion who helps ease his worries from that point on. Charlie has light-brown skin and a shock of brown hair; neither he nor any of the other racially diverse children who populate this book seem to have any parents, nor any need of them—a whimsical detail that adds appeal.

Choose this one, for sure. (Picture book. 3-7)

Kirkus Reviews