Bright, Rachel and Jim Field. The Koala Who Could. Scholastic, 2017. 978-1-338-13908-2. Upaged. $16.99. Gr. K-2.

Kevin likes “sticking to what he knows best.”  Living in his tree, he doesn’t have to deal with the animals down below who are “too fast and too loud and too big and too strange.”  Kevin can always find something else to do when Wombat asks him to come down and play. But then, one day a woodpecker taps away at his tree.  Will Kevin find the courage to live on the ground with the other animals, or will he find a new home high up and safely tucked away in another tree?  THOUGHTS:  The Koala Who Could is a fun story about having courage to try something new.  Through various animal characters, Kevin, the koala, learns that perhaps playing it safe and always saying no to trying something new isn’t as much fun as he thinks it is.  This is a great story about friendship, kindness, and courage.

Picture Book       Erin Bechdel, Beaver Area SD