Adventures in Burrwood Forest (Sticky Burr Series #1)

by John Lechner, John Lechner (Illustrator)

Overview

Meet Sticky Burr, his unshakable friends, and his prickly foes in a beguiling graphic storybook guaranteed to grab young readers.

Welcome to Burrwood Forest, where a village of seed pods are busy having adventures! There are friends like Sticky Burr and Mossy Burr, who stick together, and bad seeds like Scurvy Burr, who irritates them every chance he gets. Watch out for wild dogs and maze trees, loyal insects, and escapes on the fly in a gently quirky graphic storybook that readers are sure to get stuck on.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780763635671
Publisher:	Candlewick Press
Publication date:	04/08/2008
Series:	Sticky Burr Series , #1
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	56
Product dimensions:	6.50(w) x 9.25(h) x 0.17(d)
Age Range:	6 - 9 Years

About the Author

John Lechner is an artist, animator, multimedia designer, puppeteer, and author-illustrator of the picture book A FROGGY FABLE. He lives in Needham, Massachusetts.

Editorial Reviews

One might think burrs don't have adventures-or affable personalities, for that matter-but this hardcover color comic sets the record straight. According to title character Sticky Burr, "We are very small and covered with tiny hooks, so we stick to things. Sometimes this can be very inconvenient!" To prove his point, assorted images show burrs attached to a rabbit's ear, a soccer ball and a shoelace. Sticky himself temporarily gets attached to a bird's tail ("I hung on as tight as I could") and to a tree trunk, where, while awaiting rescue, he strums his ukulele and invents a Pooh-like song, "Stuck on a tree,/ Won't somebody help me?" until a dragonfly friend tugs him loose. Lechner's (A Froggy Fable) prickly burrs are all face: a roundish shaggy shape, two wide-open eyes, a long line for a mouth and two spindly stick-figure arms. Sticky's close friend, Mossy Burr (identifiable by the red bow on her head), defends Sticky against local bully, Scurvy, and his sidekick Spiny. Lechner has a talent for Burr names (although there is no Raymond) and the burrs' treehouse community even has a newspaper, TheBurrwood Gazette. Using an outdoorsy palette, he intersperses conventional panel layout with torn pages from Sticky's journal, set against leafy backdrops. Lechner creates an engaging nature-oriented story, alternating drolly comic moments with a surprising amount of information about life in the forest. Ages 6-10. (June)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Publishers Weekly

Gr 2-4
Sticky Burr is a quiet little burr, interested in the creative arts. He writes, paints, and plays the ukulele. He's not at all prickly like Scurvy Burr and Spiny Burr. As one might expect, Scurvy and his buddies tease and taunt him, and chase him out of the forest. With the help of several friends, Sticky gets away from the gang, and his escape leads to more adventures. He arrives back home to save Burrwood Forest from wild dogs. The burrs are very grateful, at least most of them. Scurvy is not so enamored of the hero, and there are hints of more adventures to come. Written in graphic-novel style, the lively and sometimes punny dialogue leads young readers through Sticky's exciting escapades. There are occasional pauses with a page to identify "Insects I Have Known," "Dangers in the Forest," and "Sticky Situations." The illustrations are simple, colorful, and easy to follow. A little reminiscent of the Smurfs, Sticky Burr and his friends will appeal to younger graphic-novel fans.
—Carolyn JanssenCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

Bridging the turf between easy readers and beginning chapter books, this story stars a very squirrelly squirrel fond of declarations in triplicate: "Got to go. Got to go. Got to go, go, go!" Squirrel's well-meaning overcompensation results in a windfall of food for Mouse, a lively (if one-sided) game with sleepy Turtle and plenty of splashy cheerleading for Rabbit's efforts to snag a lily-pad umbrella from the pond. Gorbachev's appealing watercolors provide the right touches for Moser's wry text, depicting Squirrel's manic activity in a plethora of amusing spots. This kinesthetic trip through Squirrel's "good, good, good day," less predictable than most easy-reader fare, will charm and challenge emergent readers-and the critter's final-page snooze should satisfy on several levels. (Fiction. 5-7)

Kirkus Reviews