Genre: Fantasy, early chapter book
Age: Primary
Media: watercolor and ink
Review/ Critique: These two animal friends are uncomfortable that the younger of the two is taller. They try to make the younger shorter and the oldest taller. Finally they accept that they can still be friends. This is a fable with animal friends with some animal characteristics (like what they eat) but also personified (friendship). ( )

A Viking Easy-to-Read book, Level 3. Part of the Cork & Fuzz series. Cork the muskrat, realizes that his friend Fuzz the possum is taller than he is even though he is younger than Cork. Cork decides to try to make Fuzz shorter, and when that does not work, Fuzz tries to help Cork grow taller. When this fails, Cork decides that he and Fuzz cannot be friends because they are too different, until Fuzz points out that they can still be friends despite their differences. Full of innocence and charm, this timeless story of an unlikely friendship is well-developed and satisfying, and children will become attached to the endearing characters. Drawings of the natural setting by Lisa McCue also communicate well the emotion and humor of the story. Chapters are short and well-placed and sentences are of varied length to help build the skills of new readers who will want to read the entire series to keep up with Cork and Fuzz’s adventures. Highly recommended. Ages 6-9. ( )

This appealing book is a story of Cork's displeasure of being shorter than Fuzz (even though he is older). After he tries to make Fuzz stop eating and walk on his knees to even up the height difference, he then tries to hang from a branch like Fuzz does, in an attempt to stretch out. In the end, Cork decides that it's okay that they are different.

As an Early Reader book, this story tells about a relationship between two animals and reaches the idea that no matter how different they are, they are still friends in the end. I enjoyed the different tactics they used to make the other taller or shorter, depending. The characters were adorable as well, being fuzzy a possum and muskrat.

Nice D level reader ( )