Slow down, Stanley

K-Gr 2--Stanley is not like any other sloth in the forest; he doesn't let the moss grow on his back. He would rather be moving, observing, learning, and jumping. While his father sees no use in this continual movement, Stanley finds that there is simply too much to do. He would rather watch a lizard hunt, or watch the butterflies as they land. One day, Stanley discovers a monkey jumping from branch to branch. Curious, Stanley gives it a try and discovers that sloths can jump, too. Eager to share this information with his dad, Stanley shows up with a megaphone to broadcast the news to his father who is asleep in a tree, exactly where Stanley left him earlier in the day. Worried that his son is not like other sloths, Stanley's dad protests. Stanley continues to practice his newfound jumping skills. One day, an emergency occurs: a fire has broken out in the forest. Who better to help the animals but Stanley? Told in third person, Stanley's antics will encourage younger readers to do what they like best and not worry about everyone else. Pictures are done in a palette of bright orange, yellow, and red tones on a white background. VERDICT A nice addition for emerging reader shelves or for the social-emotional section of the library.--Tracy Cronce

A unique sloth saves his community. Sloths may be famously slow, but young Stanley, a brownish-gray sloth who wears an orange baseball cap, is the exception. Though it's never explained why, he doesn't sleep in the daytime, instead preferring to watch the goings-on of the forest and teach himself to leap from branch to branch like a monkey. When he shows his fellow young sloths the fun that can be had from jumping through the trees, the adults in the community get annoyed and make Stanley's dad give his son a talking-to. Stanley argues that it can be helpful to swing through the trees and confidently tells his dad, "You'll be proud of my jumping someday." That day conveniently comes in the form of a forest fire, when Stanley's skills save everyone. Much might have been lost in translation from the original Italian, with stiff, oddly constructed sentences and clunky descriptions that distract from what could have been a cute story about defying others' assumptions. The bold, crude art, depicting smiling sloths and a hatted anteater, is the main selling point of this uneven tale. Strictly for kids who can't get enough of sloths. (Picture book. 4-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.