Chloe Zoe and Friends Return for Leprechaun Trap Shenanigans! With freshly updated artwork, Chloe Zoe returns in the seventh title in the popular picture book series to celebrate a new holiday: St. Patrick’s Day! Along with her classmates and her friends, Mary Margaret the crocodile and George the giraffe, Chloe Zoe builds a leprechaun trap baited with high hopes and a bit o’ luck. But when she catches something wholly unexpected, will her hopes be dashed? Or is it actually a wish come true?!
Perfect for beginning readers, the Chloe Zoe series highlights seasonal holidays and new experiences at home, in the classroom and out-and-about in the world. With a cozy trim size, bold, graphic illustrations and direct narration, Chloe Zoe meets little ones right where they are and invites them on a reading playdate that can continue on with activities and craft with author-illustrator, Jane Smith, at www.superjane.com.
Smith once again entertains with whimsical characters experiencing life to the fullest. Young readers not already familiar with St. Patrick’s Day will find plenty to learn about here, and the narrative is just part of the fun; Smith’s brilliantly hued illustrations are bursting with lively, amusing details that add richness to the story. Chloe Zoe’s room sports four-leaf clover bedding and folklore books, and even the colorful drawings hanging at her school ooze St. Patrick’s Day charm. The leprechaun traps that each student crafts are appealingly unique, with some boasting alluring gold coins (“use something shiny as bait” the trap instructions advise) and others, like Chloe Zoe’s, depending on cereal to entice leprechauns their way.
Kids will love Chloe Zoe’s wish—for “a new class pet” as the old one, a hamster named Marshmallow, has gone missing—almost as much as they relish the surprise ending, where that wish comes true in a delightfully unexpected way. Along the way, Chloe Zoe learns how to manage pins-and-needles excitement, nervous anticipation, and a little sprinkle of disappointment as well—all valuable emotional lessons for young readers, especially Smith’s careful attention to how those feelings can play out in our bodies at times. This is a magical holiday treat.
Takeaway: St. Patrick’s Day celebration that teaches kids to recognize difficult emotions.
Comparable Titles: Adam Wallace’s How to Catch a Leprechaun, Lynne Rae Perkins’s Wintercake.
Production grades
Cover: A
Design and typography: A
Illustrations: A
Editing: A
Marketing copy: A
