I took this book to my daughter’s preschool class on the day I was scheduled to do a storytime introducing the topic of voting. I don’t know if you have had any occasion to try and explain voting to four year olds…but if you are anything like me this can be very daunting. I took two picture books that I love to read at storytime. Before reading either of the books I let the kids know that after I had read them both they would get a chance to vote for which one I would read again. I told them to pay attention and decide which book they liked best.
The book they voted as their favorite was The Story of Growl. It is the story of a little monster that lives on Eucalyptus Drive. She is really a very simple creature and most of her joy comes from running around growling and singing. Life is good until her loud growling upsets her neighbors enough that a new sign is put up on Eucalyptus Drive: “NO Growling on Eucalyptus Drive.” Poor Growl is forlorn! But all comes right in the end when Growl’s talent for growling turns out to be a talent for scaring off burglars, too!
Going into storytime I felt sure that my other choice was going to win the vote. But when each child exited their “voting booth” Growl was the landslide favorite. So if you would like a kid tested, kid approved book check out The Story of Growl and see for yourself if they were right.
Check the WRL catalog for The Story of Growl.
