There's a message and kind of a moral here that both break down due to presentation in an anthropomorphic universe. You start wondering why exactly the birds are eating something as intelligent as they are, and whether that wouldn't be cruel, and you get into questions that you really weren't planning to get into while reading your toddler a board book.

The crocodiles are living in a house with wallpaper that is integral to the story. There's a baboon with an umbrella. Since the traditional Aesop's fables take place in ancient Greece, these are an interesting update to the formula. It's nontraditional to have camels wanting to be ballerinas.

It's using a very roundabout way to teach children that caterpillars turn into moths. It's cute that the bear keeps coming by to keep him company, but the caterpillar doesn't really seem to care, need company, or be thankful. It's kind of minimalist, but it could do with a little more character development, otherwise I don't really care about these characters.

Sometimes grownups are stubborn, but sometimes they realize that they made the wrong decision and change their minds. It's a difficult thing for everybody involved, but it does happen and it's good.

I think it's important to put in weird, silly things like that, because everybody has those weird, silly things about themselves that they might feel ashamed about, but saying that it's okay helps readers generalize to themselves.

It's cute how the parents eventually accept that the baby doesn't want to go to sleep and decide to enjoy the time together. As a book, though, it's pretty repetitive and would get old quickly. But it is short, so it's got that going for it.

The book is written in prose poetry, and the language is very supportive of all feelings being acceptable as long as nobody gets hurt. It's okay to enjoy time to yourself as well as enjoying being with others. Sometimes your family members are kind of jerky to you, especially siblings, but they still love you anyway.

It seems to have been a song before it was a book, and it certainly isn't great literature. It's not very interesting and the repetition would bore me if I had to read it more than once.

Not bad, not great. Pretty classic Boynton. Nothing to be offended about, but nothing to be drawn to.

It really doesn't need to be a Native American story. It kind of makes me think a little bit of "My Side of the Mountain", except apparently this kid fails at raising a hawk. Baylor's text just goes on and on, using far more words than necessary to tell this story.