The Little Red Stroller by Joshua Furst - OPTIONAL

The Little Red Stroller by Joshua Furst, illustrated by KatyWu. PICTURE BOOK. Dial (Penguin Random House), 2019. $18. 9780735228801

BUYING ADVISORY: PRE-K – OPTIONAL

AUDIENCE APPEAL: AVERAGE

After countless trips around town in her little red stroller that her mom got for her when she was an infant, Luna declares she is too big for it now when she sees a neighbor in need. She and her mom give the stroller to them, who similarly get great use out of it, until their boy outgrows it. They then give it to another family, and so it goes. The red stroller gets passed from child to child, family to family, until it gets so tattered and tired, it can go no farther. Luckily, a boy notices the broken red stroller and a crying child, and passes along his yellow stroller that he’s now outgrown. Coming full circle, this yellow stroller makes it to Luna, grown up now and with a baby of her own.

The generosity portrayed by each family who is willing, in turn, to pass along a very useful piece of equipment to another family in greater need is endearing. Nevertheless, the hand-offs become a bit tedious, repeated so often as if for the sole purpose of including every family type and every setting imaginable. On the other hand, it offers a wide variety of families and settings from which little ones can learn.

P.K.Foster, MLS, school librarian