How To Win Friends and Influence Weasels

My 8 year-old son Coleman loved Sneaky Weasel written and illustrated magnificently by Hannah Shaw and I know why. With its wacky type face, its fun illustrations, Shaw’s strong style sense and storyline work together seamlessly to get readers scanning every corner of every page because you won’t want to miss a single thing.

It seems rich, Sneaky Weasel has played one too many a trick which, while bringing him fame and fortune, does not necessarily bring him friends. A castle, a fast car and a huge pool are simply not enough when you cannot share them. However throwing a party to show off is not the best way either. And when no one answers his party invitation, weasel wants to know why. So, you may ask, what’s a clueless weasel to do?

He asks Rabbit who he picked on at school. He asks Rat in his lab whose science experiment was botched by the bully. Hedgehog’s mom intercepts Sneaky Weasel who has made her son itchy from fleas. A bit guilty now, he creeps by Shrew’s house who Weasel once almost served to his cat. Shrew proceeds to tell him off and can it be so? Do we actually witness Sneaky Weasel experiencing more than just a rush of remorse after this confrontation? And, because my son wants a moral to this story, Weasel concocts a plan to be good since it does not come naturally to him. In addition to the Herculean effort he makes to right his wrongs, he still has to learn to say those 2 magic words, “I’m sorry.” But sometimes, just sometimes, he regresses just a little tiny bit …