Clovis Keeps His Cool (B&N Exclusive Edition)

by Katelyn Aronson, Eve Farb (Illustrator)

Overview

Notes From Your Bookseller

Katelyn Aronson and Eve Farb crafted a fun and highly effective story about confronting bullies and also your emotions. Every reader and listener will see a bit of themselves in Clovis (and also in his tormentors). Clovis Keeps His Cool is a great tool to help children work through common daily difficulties and build social-emotional resiliency.

This B&N Exclusive Edition includes a unique cover and poster inside.

A bull faces off against a crowd of bullies and figures out how to manage his own temper.

Clovis used to struggle with his temper, but ever since he took over his late grandmother’s china shop, he’s been learning how to manage it. He pours tea, listens to soothing music, and always keeps Granny’s words in mind: “Grace, grace, nothing broken to replace.”

But when rivals from his football days come to heckle him at the shop, Clovis faces a big challenge that even Granny’s words and deep breaths might not be enough for.

Readers will fall in love with Clovis’s gentle soul in this heartwarming and entertaining story about finding inner peace and second chances.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781645679424
Publisher:	Page Street Publishing
Publication date:	05/16/2023
Edition description:	B&N Exclusive Edition
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	42,801
Product dimensions:	9.60(w) x 10.70(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	4 - 8 Years

About the Author

Katelyn Aronson loves tea parties and has a beloved teacup from her own grandmother that she treasures just as much as Clovis does. As well as authoring children’s books, she works as an instructor of French and English, and is completing an MA in English/French translation through La Sorbonne University, Paris. She currently lives in both the Jura mountain region of France and near Lake Geneva in Switzerland.


Eve Farb currently works as both an illustrator and a psychologist. She has a passion for design and Russian fairy tales, and has illustrated multiple books published in Russia, where she is from and lives with her husband and her cat.

Editorial Reviews

A heartwarming, funny lesson in keeping one’s cool.” — Kirkus Reviews

"The real deal, Clovis is a bull who shows that far older hero, Ferdinand, what provocation and pacifism look like, in a charmingly teachable story of stress.” — School Library Journal, starred review

"[A] tidy, moral tale." — The Wall Street Journal

From the Publisher

★ 10/01/2021

PreS-Gr 3—Clovis, a bull and former linebacker, takes over his granny's shop, which is full of china. He has something of a temper, Clovis does, and anyone familiar with the problems of a bull in a china shop will probably tune right in to the action here. When rivals of his former team show up to heckle him and his new line of work, Clovis takes a breath and counts to 10. The next time they show up, he takes up the lotus position. Another time it's soothing tea that keeps him calm. But when they smash one of Granny's tea cups, Clovis can no longer keep his cool. The china carnage is serious, and when Clovis chases the hecklers into a corner, they are genuinely afraid. Memories of his granny return him to a state in which he can invite the assorted animals of this mocking cadre to tea, and in time, they clean up together. Clovis, a realistic, muscular bull, makes for a hilarious contrast against the dainty china of his tea shop, yet his gentle ways as he struggles to maintain his focus are fluid and believable. The value of a good cup of tea cannot be overstated in this book, but of similar value is the persistence of his rivals in reminding Clovis of his sporty side. VERDICT The real deal, Clovis is a bull who shows that far older hero, Ferdinand, what provocation and pacifism look like, in a charmingly teachable story of stress.—Kimberly Olson Fakih, School Library Journal

School Library Journal

2021-06-02
Working in a china shop tests a bull’s anger-management skills.

A burly bull and former linebacker, Clovis has a “temper as big as he was,” but since he started running his grandmother Grace’s china shop, he feels calmer. Repeating Granny’s mantra—“Grace, grace. Nothing broken to replace”—Clovis carefully unpacks and stacks fine porcelain. One day some former football rivals appear outside the shop, mocking Clovis by calling him a “wimp” and a “bull in a china shop.” His anger rising, Clovis feels the urge to charge, but deep-breathing techniques help him ignore the hecklers. On dusting day, Clovis happily polishes glassware when the hecklers return, insulting his cleaning efforts. Stroking the cat, Clovis again keeps his cool. They come back once more as Clovis arranges a tea display in the window. When the hecklers insult Granny Grace and break her favorite teacup, Clovis is “all out of grace.” Leaving smashed china in his wake, a raging Clovis chases the cowering hecklers into an alley, where he composes himself to channel Grace, then offers them tea, with surprising results. Painterly illustrations cleverly juxtapose Clovis, with his menacing horns and barrel-chested, bulging-biceps, linebacker physique, with the rather fussy china shop. Humorous scenes of Clovis meditating in lotus pose, lighting candles, pouring tea into delicate cups, and arranging flowers contrast with powerful close-ups of his brief descent into raging-bull mode, enhanced by exaggerated facial expressions and dramatic lighting.

A heartwarming, funny lesson in keeping one’s cool. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews