The Littlest Yak (B&N Exclusive Edition)

by Lu Fraser

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

It’s tough to be the littlest yak in the pack! But Gertie wants to grow up big and strong like her friends, so she cooks up a silly plan in this hilarious winter tale about celebrating your individuality.

This Barnes & Noble Exclusive Edition includes a festive foiled cover and collectible art print.

A little yak yearns for BIG things in this rollicking, rhyming picture book that celebrates individuality, unique talents, and the importance of not growing up too fast.

Gertie is the littlest yak in her pack, feeling stuck in her smallness. She wants to grow up and have BIGNESS and TALLNESS, with the hugest of hooves and humongous horns too! Because there isn't anything a BIG yak can't do.

So Gertie devises a growing-up plan. She eats her veggies, exercises every day, and reads lots of books. Still, she isn't any bigger. But when the other yaks come calling for Gertie to help them with a daring and dangerous task, could it be because it's something only a small yak can do?

Lu Fraser's debut picture book is a heartwarming and relatable story of individuality, self-esteem, and the joys of being young and small. best-selling illustrator Kate Hindley has created a delightful wintry landscape, packed with adorable yaks in woolly hats and coats. Readers won't be able to resist snuggling down with this charming read aloud.

A CCBC Choice

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781682638774
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	10/28/2025
Series:	The Littlest Yak
Edition description:	B&N Exclusive Edition
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	10.40(w) x 10.50(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD810L (what's this?)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Lu Fraser has been helping other people tell stories for years, but she has never been brave enough to share her own—until now. Lu lives in England with her husband and daughter and writes her best stories in a little shed in her backyard.

Kate Hindley is an illustrator who has brought many best-selling picture books to life, including You Must Bring a Hat, winner of the Sainsbury Children's Book Award. She is also the author of the lift-the-flap book series Treacle Street. Kate lives in England.

Editorial Reviews

★ "The jolly, fast-paced, rhyming verse propels readers through diminutive Gertie’s harrowing, wind-swept rescue mission and matches the upbeat mood of her quest for 'bigness.'. . . Whimsical scenes of hairy, wide-eyed, comical yaks of assorted shapes and sizes sporting amusing cold-weather headgear will trigger chuckles and reinforce the message of individuality. A real little winner."—Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review

"Fraser elevates the familiar story line with a well-paced rhyming text that invites reading aloud. . . . Hindley 's digitally colored pen-and-ink illustrations . . . are populated with endearing yaks, whose boldly patterned hats and scarves match the story 's cozy feel."—The Horn Book

From the Publisher

★ 2021-07-27
Discouraged with her small stature, a little yak tackles a size-related challenge.

Living atop a snowy mountain, Gertie’s the smallest yak in her huddling herd. Despite having the “curliest, whirliest wool” as well as “splendidly grippy” hooves to scale the most “slippy” cliff, Gertie longs for “BIGNESS.” She wants to grow up to have “greatness and tallness” and the “hugest of hooves and humongous horns.” Reminding Gertie that yaks are “all shapes and sizes / and BIGNESS can come in all sorts of disguises,” Gertie’s mother urges her to enjoy being small. Nevertheless, Gertie embarks on a “Growing-Up Plan,” eating well, exercising, and reading to make her thoughts grow, but despite her efforts, “no growing arrive[s].” But then the herd frantically calls on Gertie to rescue a yak trapped on a cliff edge, a dangerous mission only she can attempt, and Gertie discovers she’s had “bigness inside” all along. The jolly, fast-paced, rhyming verse propels readers through diminutive Gertie’s harrowing, wind-swept rescue mission and matches the upbeat mood of her quest for “bigness.” A pleasing palette of silvers, grays, and blues with red and yellow accents accentuates the bleak, snowy mountaintop venue, while whimsical scenes of hairy, wide-eyed, comical yaks of assorted shapes and sizes sporting amusing cold-weather headgear will trigger chuckles and reinforce the message ofindividuality.

A real little winner. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews