Ruffles and the New Green Thing

Ruffles and the New Green Thing
Author(s)
Publisher
Age Range
4+
Release Date
June 06, 2023
ISBN
978-1536229820
Buy This Book
      
Laugh with Ruffles as he faces all the troubles of toddler life in this brightly colored picture book series.

There’s a new green thing in Ruffles’s bowl, and he does not want to try even the smallest nibble. When his friend Ralph comes to play, he spots the new green thing and happily takes a big bite. If Ralph can try the new green thing, then so can Ruffles. He quickly discovers that broccoli—the new green thing—is, in fact, delicious! The perfect story to encourage picky eaters to try new foods.

Editor review

1 review
Ruffles vs. Broccoli!
(Updated: September 17, 2023)
Overall rating
 
4.8
Plot
 
4.0
Characters
 
5.0
Writing Style
 
5.0
Illustrations/Photos (if applicable)
 
5.0
After his adventures in Ruffles and the Red, Red Coat and Ruffles and the Teeny, Tiny Kittens, we know that while Ruffles enjoys many things, he is also not particularly good with change or with the unfamiliar. When a new green thing appears in his dog dish (looking suspiciously like a piece of broccoli), he is apprehensive and a bit irritated that his usual food is not there. He investigates, but cannot come to any conclusion. When his friend Ralph comes to play, he gives the thing in Ruffles' bowl a taste. Since Ruffles looks up to Ralph, who seems very accomplished and perhaps a bit older, Ruffles tries the new food as well. It's not as bad as he thinks, and perhaps even delicious, but this doesn't stop Ruffles from another round of suspicion when something orange appears in his bowl.

Good Points
Ruffles is very much like a toddler in his enthusiam for and approach to life, and the text is perfect for reading with this age group. We all sometimes need a message about trying and accepting new things! It's delightfully repetitive, and begs to be read while lying on one's stomach on a carpeted floor, so that when the pages with Ruffles enjoying a variety activities comes up, the readers can replicate his actions! (He... "creeps... and stares... and listens... and circles...") Young readers sometimes have limited patience with long text, so having one sentence on most pages, then the occasional views of Ruffles' various activities is perfect. This book would be very easy to memorize, which will be helpful!

The depiction of Ruffles and Ralph is simple but delightful, and the expressions on their faces particularly charming. The primary colors and clear lines don't detract from the text, so it's easy to point to words in order to sound them out. The white space (or in some cases, yellow or pink) also makes this book easy on the eye and fun to navigate. While I'm a fan of picture books with a lot of background details, there is also something to be said for books with a less visually cluttered approach.

Growing up, I was a huge fan of Graham's Harry the Dirty Dog, and I am glad to see that Ruffles is getting more and more books in his series, including the October 2023 Ruffles and the Cozy, Cozy Bed. Ruffles is in good company with dogs like Papp's Madeline Finn and the Library Dog, Wells' McDuff, Capucilli's Biscuit and Bo from Higgins' Good Dog series for slightly older readers.
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