The Pickle, The Patch and The Puppy

Stevie, fair-skinned with brown hair, is a kid who loves his mom and dad, basketball, and pickles. One day at his aunt’s house, he is eating a pickle when her dog, Bo, tries to get to the tasty treat. Bo injures him on the cheek (or the lip, depending on the illustration; more on that below). Stevie has to go to the doctor’s and finds that after this experience, he is very fearful of dogs. His mom gives him a visual of a ladder to climb to ease his phobia. Stevie tries out his mom’s technique in different settings where there are dogs, and is finally able to interact with a new puppy in his aunt’s kitchen.

This is a solid story that provides kids and their caregivers a strategy for approaching fear. Simple but emotional language allows children to connect their own worries to Stevie’s and use the story’s suggestions to guide them forward, as he did. A website (www.pickleandthepuppy.com) offers a free downloadable journal, “My Bravery Journal,” so readers can chart their own wins on the rungs of a bravery ladder.

The AI-generated artwork is colorful and has a warm palette, but the scenes don’t always flow naturally. Sometimes the characters appear oddly proportioned or a bit stiff. The rendering takes liberties with elements in the composition: at one point the bandage moves to Stevie’s other cheek, and when he tosses a basketball, his arms point in one direction while the ball and hoop are in the other. Children will certainly appreciate the pops of color in the typeface and a clean, snappy writing style, which uses sentence fragments to keep the action moving along.

Despite slight drawbacks, this book is a strong choice for school counselors or classroom teachers who want to support young students as they learn to get past both big worries and little ones with a metaphor that is easy to envision and put into practice.