Peter Koblish

Clifford and his friends T-Bone and Cleo decide to play Follow the Leader. They agree to take turns being the leader, but Cleo goes first and won't give up her turn as leader. Eventually Cleo decides it's better to cooperate and let someone else have a turn as leader.

I liked the idea of this book for teaching young children about playing nicely together and taking turns. However, I found the book was a little lacking. The beginning starts out well with Cleo refusing to give turns while T-Bone waits for his turn with increasing impatience (and rightly so). But then the book peters out with Cleo simply thinking about "what games T-Bone and Clifford might think of if they were the leaders." The book goes on to plainly state "So the dogs played follow-the-leader until the sun went down, taking turns and having fun." I felt like there should have been more here, with the reader seeing what ideas T-Bone and Clifford do come up with and how Cleo enjoys these, reinforcing the thought she had. Nevertheless, I do get how a board book seeks brevity and that's what happened here. But I feel like this book would need additional explanation from the adult reader before the lesson would really be hammered home for the child.… (mer)