Parents' Guide to

Russell Sprouts

By Tracy Moore, Common Sense Media Reviewer

age 6+

Gentle, relatable tale of first grader's adventures, trials.

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RUSSELL SPROUTS offers first-grade adventures without the flourish. Here, 6-year-old Russell's frustrations are not particularly dramatic, but they're poignant nonetheless: What happens when dads get mad, when you say bad words, when you wander into the wrong (scary, grown-up) movie at the theater? How do you endure the particular torture of waiting for a plant to grow for a science project?

The book's appeal is in those quiet, low-key resolutions. Given the space and time to work out his feelings and think things over, Russell comes to reasonable conclusions at his own pace, especially thanks to a highly engaged family and school setting that treats this age as a necessary one for explorer types. For first graders, these are extremely relatable scenarios, and for parents, these tales paired with their delicate pencil drawings are reminders that this phase, like any other, comes with its own unique challenges and should simply be aided along patiently as it runs its inevitable course.

Book Details

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