Slow Samson

by Bethany Christou

Overview

A sweet but slow-moving sloth gets a wonderful surprise from his friends in this illustrated picture book about taking your time and accepting yourself.

Everyone likes Samson the sloth! He is friendly and kind and always willing to lend a hand, so he gets lots of invitations to parties. But no matter how hard he tries, Samson moves too slowly to ever make it to the party: by the time he gets there, the cake is all eaten up and the games are finished. Can Samson’s clever friends figure out a way to celebrate their favorite sloth — and make sure he doesn’t miss a moment of it?

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781536215472
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	09/01/2020
Pages:	40
Sales rank:	619,784
Product dimensions:	9.10(w) x 10.60(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Bethany Christou is a children’s book artist who loves to create stories with heart. Slow Samson is her author-illustrator debut. She lives in Hertfordshire, England.

Editorial Reviews

Christou’s animals are friendly and appealing, with cartoony eyes that don’t match Samson’s lovely, loose-handed fur or the occasional pink background washes...plenty amiable.
—Kirkus Reviews

From the Publisher

2020-06-30
Samson is always late to parties.

Samson, a sloth, can never reach a party before it ends. Poor Samson! His animal friends recline on the forest floor, satiated, all partied out. There’s not even any leftover cake. Is it Samson’s thoughtfulness that makes him slow? After all, en route, he talks to a tree frog, mediates a monkey argument, and rights a toppled tortoise. Next time, to determine whether helpfulness is slowing him down, he ignores all those pals (who, amusingly, have the exact same needs as last time). He still misses the party! Alas, his slowness seems unchangeable. Samson sobs. His friends hatch a plan, and while some proposals seem flawed—you can’t control balloons; sloths can’t stand, so roller skates are out—one might work. Christou’s animals are friendly and appealing, with cartoony eyes that don’t match Samson’s lovely, loose-handed fur or the occasional pink background washes. Much here is mildly slippery or mismatched: Initially, there’s a distinction between Samson’s friends and the animals he helps, then not; initially, he’s slow specifically because he’s kind, then not; and this copiously airy climate with white and pink backgrounds, ample fields and clearings, and expanses of short grass is supposedly a rainforest. No matter—this a pleasant story with a solution that, while it only works as a one-off, is clever and does the trick.

Not a requirement but plenty amiable. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews

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