Gluey: A Snail Tale

My 3-year old twins and I (and any adult listening to us read it!) LOVE this book. We also are big Olive fans, but I think this one surpasses even that wonderful tale. I would highly recomment this delightful story to anyone who likes quirky, unconventional, but sweet books for their kids. Very creative and fun, but with a solid message about making presumptions about others. Great illustrations, too!

kids will be enthralled with the wonderful pictures..and the story is so odd, yet the friendship between a bunny & snail is totally groovy.

J.otto is one of the finest children's illustrators (and web animators) and he and Walsh have outdone themselves with Gluey, a Snail's Tale. J.otto's style is bright, attractive, and compelling. His pages are full of humorous details that children and adults will love to examine. The story of Gluey reveals the fallacies of superstition and quick judgments, and lauds hard work, friendship, loyalty, and reconciliation. A great book for everyone to enjoy!

I bought this book for my three year old daughter because we love Olive the other Reindeer so much. This book is in the same vein with similar quirky illustrations. My daughter can follow most books geared for 4+ years old but she lost intrest in this one about half way through. The story is a bit complex and presents some jokes that are above her head. For instance there is a play on words. The word wee is used to mean small as in wee people and to mean together as in we did it together. The story is primarily about Celerina the bunny and Gluey the snail. Gluey the snail lives in a house and takes care of it by repairing it when things break. Celerina the bunny moves into the house not knowing Gluey the snail lives there. The two peacefully coexist for awhile with Celerina unaware of Gluey's existance. Whenever Celerina breaks something Gluey repairs it for her during the night. Celerina decides it is magic and let's her friends destroy the house to the point where Gluey can no longer fix it. When Gluey first catches Clerina's atention she chucks him over a fence intio a garden before he can tell her it is he who fixes the house. The next time they meet and Celerina realizes her mistake it is too late and the house is beyond repair. Fortunately for Gluey and Celerina the wee people who orginally built the house work together to repair the house back to it's orginal splendor. There are a lot of lessons at work in the story. You should not rush to judgement about someone you have just met the way Celerina does with Gluey and team work gets things done as in the case with the wee people repairing the house. This book is a little complex for my daughter but I know that when she gets a little older she will love it. It was fun for me to read too. The book has wit, humor, and heart just like Olive the Other Reindeer. I think any four year old child or older will have no trouble following the story and enjoy it as much as I do.

I fell in love with Walsh and Siebold when I read "Olive the other Reindeer". The artwork is amazing, and appeals to adults as well as children. "Gluey" is just as great, it reminds me of old European children's books, with the tiny cottage, and helpful elves, yet the style is very modern. You can read it over and over again and always notice new details in the illustrations. My children, ages 3 and 6, love this book as much as I do. I'm looking forward to buying the "Mr. Lunch" series too.