The Great Big Animal Race

The Great Big Animal Race is about the annual animal race approaching and all the animals are preparing to compete. As Rabbit is preparing for the race, she realizes that one of her friends, Snail, isn’t preparing for the race. Snail tells Rabbit that he isn’t planning on participating in the race since he always comes in last. Rabbit gets a great idea and gathers all of the other animals to come up with a plan to encourage Snail to participate in this year’s race.

What I Liked: I was intrigued by the cover of this book and was curious as to how this snail seemed to win the race and be celebrated on the cover. I like how we are introduced to the animals as they are preparing for the race using their unique talents.

The art style of the book stands out as every animal is unique. I like the bugs that are included because they all look different and are cute. The style of the mailboxes stood out to me as each of them is different but they match the animals so you can recognize them. I also like how the animals have unique patterns or characteristics about them that allow for some of their personality to shine through.

I appreciate how Rabbit didn’t want Snail to know that they were helping him to win the race and how they had to find another way to do things. I loved how the author incorporated thinking outside of the box into the story and how he was able to show the importance of changing the way things are done to include everyone.

Final Verdict: The Great Big Animal Race is a sweet and fun book that shows how to embrace uniqueness, and how important friendship is. Children will enjoy hearing about the animals coming together to make sure that their friend is included in the annual race, and adults will enjoy using this book to teach about unique traits and friendship.