Three Little Beavers

By: Jean Heilprin Diehl
Illustrated by: Cathy Morrison
Publisher: Sylvan Dell Publishing
Publishing Date: February 2012
ISBN: 978-1-60718-5338
Reviewed By: Amy Lignor
Review Date: February 2012

I will never stop being amazed by the illustrators and creative minds behind Sylvan Dell. When you receive one of their books to read to your children, the illustrations, the covers, the color and imagination - literally pop right out of the book. In fact, these books should be granted the highest honors possible for the amount of work that goes into them.

In this lovely story, children get to meet up with Beatrix, Beverly and Bevan - the three beavers. These siblings, who live with their parents in the lodge on Beaver Creek, work a great deal. Bevan is an expert - he is what you would call a ‘master’ beaver. He can twist and alter those twigs and mud into perfection every single time. His sister, Beverly, is amazing, too. She can do underwater somersaults and all kinds of fancy tricks. These are two beavers who will grow up to be masters at their craft.

Unfortunately, Beatrix just can’t seem to get the hang of anything. Her mud patches fall apart, she’s not all that good with building, swimming and, frankly, she’s tired of being around siblings who are better than she is. Sometimes it’s difficult to know what it is that we’re good at; after all, we all have a special skill, but Beatrix just can't find hers. So, off she goes.

She sets her sights on a trip that will bring her upstream through dangers untold in order to find out what her special skills and talents might be. But poor Beatrix gets caught in a trap. Not a scary trap, mind you, it’s a trap set by kind people who are just trying to make sure that beavers don’t rip apart their lawn, but they would never hurt an animal. Unfortunately, Beatrix can’t get out of the trap and when her ‘superstar’ siblings come along to save her - they get trapped, too. Who has to save the day? Beatrix, and all of a sudden she knows exactly what she’s good at.

The author wrote a truly uplifting story about how everyone has a gift. Just because your siblings may be able to do things better or quicker than you, doesn’t mean you can’t do something better than them. It just takes a little time to find out what you’re best at. And the ‘fun’ extras in the back of the book teach everything from beaver facts to building dams with your hands!

Quill Says: Another 'star' that shines in the Sylvan Dell catalog. A great story that will help kids tremendously while having a fun time!

Article first published as Book Review: Three Little Beavers by Jean Heilprin Diehl, Illustrated by Cathy Morrison on Blogcritics.