I'm sorry

PreS-Gr 3--A girl, a potato, and a flamingo walk into a book--and the author is back with another installment in his series exploring feelings. A young, pale-skinned girl with dark pigtails encounters her friend Flamingo nursing some bruised feelings. The girl discovers that their mutual friend Potato dished out some hurtful words. Readers never learn what words were spoken, but the girl insists that Potato must hash things out with Flamingo. Potato is nervous, aware that he must get to the root of the issue. Instead, the spud humorously suggests whipping up a towering sandwich for Flamingo, fleeing to live with penguins in the South Pole (who have mastered the selfie stick), or choosing to live as a wanted outlaw. Potato complains that "saying I'm sorry is maybe the hardest thing to say in the entire world." Ohi's digitally rendered illustrations are boldly colored and outlined in thick black lines. The colors of dialogue for the girl, Potato, and Flamingo cleverly match an identifying feature of each character, assisting readers in following along. With a more serious tone than other books in the series, Black manages to season Potato's tough task with witty banter. VERDICT This book that playfully demonstrates how to apologize and forgive is a good title for SEL collections.--Emily Brush, Novi P.L., MI

A potato apologizes to a flamingo. We don't exactly know what Potato said to Flamingo, but we know it was hurtful enough for Flamingo to be sad and Potato to feel awful about it. The White, pigtailed child who has rounded out the trio in such previous humorous social-emotional titles as I'm Bored (2012), I'm Sad (2018), and I'm Worried (2019) works on resolving this conflict, emphasizing to Potato that he needs to apologize and that giving Flamingo a sandwich or disguising himself as a cowboy won't do the trick. Of course Potato apologizes, and of course Flamingo accepts after emphasizing how hurtful the comment was, but the resolution feels unearned. We never learn what, exactly, Potato said to Flamingo. It's unclear why Potato feels gut-wrenching remorse but is unable to apologize given that a more-common reaction is denial or justification. The conflict seems straightforward and one-sided rather than reflecting the messy realities that come when children (or anyone) hurt each other's feelings. And the end gag with penguins feels extraneous rather than integral. Apologizing well is a hard and important skill to learn, and this theme comes with countless possible interpretations. Black's addition is well meaning but adds little complexity to the challenging concept. Sorry, but this is not the best in the series. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.