This just wasn’t my favorite in Alex Milway’s series about Anna and her team of friends on Animal Boulevard. Although I like Anna’s innovation coming up with a cooking contest to increase business during the slow season at the hotel, the messages that follow aren’t quite as charming as usual. 

The theme of overcoming fear is strong, but the solution is usually, “I’m the best!”  Milway missed opportunities to point more strongly to conquering fear because others are counting on you, or because no matter the outcome your community will be there to cheer you on, or that your value and identity runs deeper than your performance. Instead it’s just self talk: “I’m the best and I can do it.”  I found these solutions a bit shallow compared to Milway’s usual clever, uplifting teaching.

Even when someone loses a competition, the  there isn’t a growth mindset.  The character who lost says, “I know I’m the best,” and concludes it doesn’t matter what people think. That felt a bit shallow . How much more powerful if she had said, “they won fair and square, but I’m going to practice and learn and grow and I’ll get it next year!”

This one just didn’t have Milway’s usual depth, innovative solutions, and character growth.