Amy the Red Panda is Writing the Best Story in the World

Amy the Red Panda is Writing the Best Story in the World
Co-Authors / Illustrators
Age Range
4+
Release Date
November 14, 2017
ISBN
978-0062338488
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An exuberant, hilarious guessing game about storytelling, creativity, friendship, and patience—with the most adorable animal menagerie you’ll find anywhere! Amy the Red Panda starts to tell her best friend Mervin the Sloth a story when—uh-oh—a rainstorm of letters pours down! When it stops, Amy reads a sentence in the sky: Amy the Red Panda is writing the best story in the world. The BEST story in the WORLD? That’s a tall order. Especially when all of the other animals have their own opinions on what the story should be about. Big animals or small ones? Acrobats? A pirate bird flying the Seven Seas? Oh, dear! Luckily, Mervin is there to give Amy just the right inspiration. A companion to Mervin the Sloth Is About to Do the Best Thing in the World, this funny-bone–tickling picture book brings back a cast of zany, irresistible animal friends and an inventive, playful format. Pitch-perfect, full of imagination, and just right for fans of Dragons Love Tacos, The Book with No Pictures, and The Monster at the End of This Book.

An exuberant, hilarious guessing game about storytelling, creativity, friendship, and patience—with the most adorable animal menagerie you’ll find anywhere!

Amy the Red Panda starts to tell her best friend Mervin the Sloth a story when—uh-oh—a rainstorm of letters pours down! When it stops, Amy reads a sentence in the sky: Amy the Red Panda is writing the best story in the world.

The BEST story in the WORLD? That’s a tall order. Especially when all of the other animals have their own opinions on what the story should be about. Big animals or small ones? Acrobats? A pirate bird flying the Seven Seas? Oh, dear! Luckily, Mervin is there to give Amy just the right inspiration.

A companion to Mervin the Sloth Is About to Do the Best Thing in the World, this funny-bone–tickling picture book brings back a cast of zany, irresistible animal friends and an inventive, playful format. Pitch-perfect, full of imagination, and just right for fans of Dragons Love Tacos, The Book with No Pictures, and The Monster at the End of This Book.

Editor reviews

2 reviews
Figuring Out Your Own Path
(Updated: June 26, 2026)
Overall rating
 
3.5
Plot
 
3.0
Characters
 
N/A
Writing Style
 
N/A
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
 
4.0
'Amy the Red Panda is Writing the Best Story in the World' by Colleen AF Venable, illustrated by Ruth Chan, revolves around Amy and her best friend Mervin, a sloth, and the story they are starting to write together. However, when Amy begins telling the story, she finds unwanted opinions coming from every other nearby animal. All of the ideas leave Amy uncertain of how to move forward with her story, and unsure whether she really wants to, since the illustrations show her to look terribly confused and upset about all of the unsolicited advice she is getting.

The story shows how sometimes people throw their opinions into the mix without being asked, and dealing with this is never easy. Sometimes people have a vision, as Amy does in this book, and losing that as a result of so many people coming out of the woodwork with their own thoughts on the matter can certainly be aggravating. Instead of finding the path she wants to take with her writing, she finds herself giving up. Then her best friend Mervin chucks one of the letters on the page at Amy, and she finds herself smack in the middle of a letter fight. She comes to realize that her friendship with Mervin beats anything that had already happened that day, which proves the fact that sometimes people just have to sit back and let life happen to them rather than trying to make stories up on their own.

Some of the best decisions in life come out of seeing where life takes you and not overthinking things. Even when others are doing the overthinking, it is still difficult. Figuring out one's own story and path in life and shaping it the way one wants it rather than how others are saying to do so is some of the best advice this story offers.
Good Points
Figuring out one's own story and path in life and shaping it the way one wants it rather than how others are saying to do so is some of the best advice this story offers.
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