Accident! written by Andrea Tsurumi, reviewed by Klaudia Janek

Student Reviewer: Angela X.
Summary: Accident! by Andrea Tsurumi spins a great journey in a world in which animals act with the same characteristics as people. A young armadillo, named Lola, makes a mess in her home. Traumatized from the incident, she heads out to the library, promising to never return, thinking that this was the worst thing that could ever happen. Along the way, however, she encounters many more furry friends, like a rabbit, snake, and even a rhinoceros experiencing the same problems she is. And so off they went together to the library, on their way to escape their problems and never return. Things just keep on going sideways for them! Read the book to discover how Lola, and her animal pals are going to learn a valuable lesson on what it means to make mistakes.

Straight Talk for Librarians: This book, Accident! by Andrea Tsurumi, would definitely be a great read, as well as a valuable learning tool, especially for elementary-school level readers, in and out of the classroom. The vibrant and bright colors of the illustrations, made with digital color and graphite, would easily attract the eyes of eager young readers. Also besides being a fun read, it would also teach an immensely valuable lesson to these children on the acceptance of making mistakes and having these accidents. Sometimes, it just gets the best of everyone. Additionally, the language and prose of this book is perfectly engineered towards these young- in- age- readers, and the artwork gives great detail and insight into the progression and lessons exemplified in this children’s story. Finally, personification is an important aspect of the story, for it would attract smaller readers, because of their whimsicalness and wackiness. Overall, the outlook that is provided by the book, Accident! by Andrea Tsurumi, shows an important lesson that all young learners can carry with them throughout their entire life, all in the form of a spectacularly well-done picture book. Library lovers will particularly love this book as it depicts the library as a safe space. It is the first thought of some of the characters as to where they should escape too as they are running away from whatever accident they created. There are so many details in the pictures that readers will come back again and again to find new things they may have missed before.