Published by Little, Brown Books for Young Readers

Summary:  Straw always wants to be first and zips through any beverage like it’s nothing.  But one day, stuck into an icy slushie, he gets a brain freeze and ends up collapsed at the bottom of the cup.  A loopy crazy straw comes to his rescue, reminding him that sometimes it’s okay to slow things down. Straw learns to stop and smell the milkshake, slowing down enough to notice big red strawberries and swirly whipped cream.  It’s a lesson he doesn’t always remember, but most of the time he’s a bit more chill these days. 48 pages; ages 4-8.

Pros:  As she did in Spoon and Chopsticks, Amy Krouse Rosenthal has lots of fun with language and usually-inanimate objects to teach a lesson in a way kids will enjoy.

Cons:  While reading other reviews for this book, I learned that Amy Krouse Rosenthal passed away in 2017 at the age of 51.

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