Boom Snot Twitty by Doreen Cronin (review)

Three friends, Boom (a bear), Snot (a snail), and Twitty (a robin), intend to spend the day together, but their differing tastes complicate the plan. Boom is easily bored and wants action, while Twitty wants to stay put and crochet, and both want to hide when wind and rain hit; cheerful Snot, meanwhile, is content to go with the flow no matter the weather. When evening falls, however, the three agree that they should snuggle up together to sleep. While the contrasting personalities of the friends provide some interest, very little actually happens in this story, and the tale teeters from quiet to dull. The poetic simplicity of the language (“The sky got dark and the rain came down. ‘Run!’ yelled Boom. ‘Hide!’ cried Twitty. ‘Rain!’ said Snot”) gives a bit of liveliness to the narrative, though, and Liwska’s lovely soft-focus art is frame-worthy; her cuddly rendering of the three little critters makes them especially hard to resist. Fuzzy brown Boom could easily be a relative of Minarik and Sendak’s Little Bear, and fluffy Twitty (with her sometimes unsuccessful crochet projects) is equally appealing, but it is pale gray-green Snot, with her tidy spiral shell, jaunty red antennae bows, and wide-eyed optimism, who steals the show. This could be used for a discussion on personalities, but it will be more successful as part of a subdued, rainy-day snuggle session with a thoughtful child or two.