Don’t Tell! by Tom Booth - ADVISABLE

Don’t Tell! by Tom Booth. PICTURE BOOK. Feiwel and Friends (Macmillan), 2018. $18. 9781250117373

BUYING ADVISORY: EL (K-3) - ADVISABLE.

AUDIENCE APPEAL: HIGH

This book will be immediately recognizable for fans of Don’t Blink! This book is similarly interactive, asking the reader who told them about this book. Many animals deny telling until elephant confesses. Everyone agrees that secrets are hard to keep and it is okay. 

The art in this book is beautiful. It feels like the animals are looking right at you and when they talk, you truly feel like they might be able to hear you. The concept of secret keeping and sharing fell a little flat for me because of the many facets of this topic for young kids. There is an author’s note at the beginning of the book that says that the adult reading the book should have a conversation with the young reader about safe and dangerous secrets, I just wish the literature itself would have taught kids.

Jen Wecker, HS English Teacher