Kalb, Bess. Buffalo Fluffalo. Illustrated Erin Kraan. Random House Studio, 2024. 978-0-593-56453-0. 40 p. $18.99. Grades K-2.

Buffalo Fluffalo lives in a stunning valley that features a distant mountain range, majestic pine trees, and a beautiful turquoise lake. But Fluff is a “surly old buffalo / Who was ever so snarly and gnarly and tuffalo.” He stomps on flowers, snorts in warning, and wears his fluff like protective armor. His number one request? “Leave me alone because / I’ve had enuffalo!” Despite his grumpy demeanor, affable critters approach with offers of a handmade hat, a race through prairie dog tunnels, and a friendly chat. Fluff meets each offer with a resounding rebuffalo. But when a sudden thunderstorm soaks Fluff to the skin, his true (very diminutive) form is revealed. Embarrassed, Fluff defensively asserts his toughness, until the animals whose friendship he denied step in and assure him that they like him just as he is. The sun comes out and shines on Fluff, surrounded by all of his new, affectionate friends. Readers may even spot a happy tear in his eye! Author Bess Kalb has written Buffalo Fluffalo in playful, rhyming couplets with vocabulary that is somehow both nonsensical and perfectly descriptive (rain lands with a “spluffalo”). Erin Kraan’s delightful illustrations are rendered through hand-carved woodcuts, Photoshop, and acrylic gouache, creating engaging scenes with a variety of textures.

THOUGHTS: Young readers will identify Mr. Fluff’s guarded posturing and root for potential friends to break through his “gruffalo” persona!

Picture Book