Summary: “The creator of the award-winning app Scruffy Kitty, Michael Slack, brings young readers a fresh, dynamic duo: an energetic dinosaur and a cranky but loving bird who both pack lots of silly noises and fuzzy surprises in this vibrantly illustrated friendship story. Meet Shorty & Clem! Shorty is a really short dinosaur. A shortysaurus, to be exact. Clem is a blue quail. A quail is some kind of bird. While Clem is out, a package arrives at the door with his name on it. Shorty gets super excited and finds the box irresistible. What’s inside? A race car…trampoline…bongos…monkeys? He REALLY wants to open it but, he knows that it’s Clem’s. Should he open the box? Of course not! Instead, he jumps on it like a trampoline—THUMP!—and bangs on it like a drum—BOOM BADA BOOM!—until he finally opens it. That’s when Clem comes home. Shorty is sure he’s done something terrible, but Clem proves to him that best friends are the best surprises of all!” (Taken from Goodreads) Review: A package arrives for Clem, but with Clem not at home Shorty has a hard time NOT opening the package – trying very hard to play with the box and not open it, until… he finally can’t take it anymore and opens it up! He quickly realizes his mistake and tells the truth when Clem comes home. This is a sweet story of friendship and surprises with an adorable dinosaur and a very understanding quail. Personal Reaction: This book reminded me very much of Elephant & Piggie with speech bubbles, short text and two best friends. I loved how hard Shorty worked to try and not open the package and the ending was cute (no spoilers here!). But, my only concern is that they don’t address how wrong Shorty is to have opened something that didn’t belong to him. Then again, I don’t think every picture book needs to have a lesson attached to it, especially if parents and teachers use the book as a teaching tool to talk to kids about the issue presented in the book. This story in the end is about friendship and that’s pretty special. Title: Shorty & Clem Author: Michael Slack Illustrator: Michael Slack Publisher: HarperCollins Publication Date: April 25, 2017 This is a new idea I’m trying on my blog this year that was inspired by @donalynbooks and @heisereads – to provide a brief review of a picture book every day of 2018. You’ll get a brief summary of the story, a review of the content, illustrations and theme, my personal reaction to the book and all the pertinent publication information! Enjoy!