A delightful tale with a focus on respecting others, being assertive and standing up for yourself.

Ploofers are these adorable little round creatures that are the main characters in this tale. One little ploofer faces some challenges when he meets new people and dislikes how one of the is treating him. His frustration grows until he learns to use his voice to share his feelings in a respectful but assertive way. This is an empowering message for children about sharing their opinions and not allowing people to treat them in a way that makes them feel uncomfortable.

This story was entertaining and educational, which can be a tricky balance to maintain in a children’s book, and I will be suggesting it to teachers whenever possible. Mental health is such a critical part of childhood that often gets overlooked. Incorporating social and emotional education into children's picture books is a tried and true way to teach an important life skill in a way that is fun. This would be an amazing addition for classroom libraries, counselling offices and more.

Thank you to Claire Alexander, Quarto Publishing Group – Frances Lincoln Children's Books, Happy Yak, and NetGalley for this free advanced reader copy of "A Little Bit of Respect" for an honest review.

I really loved this little book and I think it'd be great for kids. Children need more stories that encourage them to stand up for themselves when something makes them uncomfortable, especially where it comes to parents, other adults, and their peers. We need to start embracing a generation who don't internalize those feelings from the ground up their whole lives.

I think this is another wonderful message to have on hand, and be teaching kids, from a young age.

5★
“Here are the Ploofers on an adventure.
They’ve spotted a new place to explore.”

This is an unusual approach to respect. What may seem friendly to you might be intrusively personal to someone else.

My Goodreads review shows a small illustration with the caption:
A happy Ploofer with its joyful rainbow cloud

The Ploofers spot a group of curly characters having a picnic and decide to visit. When they arrive, they are admired and complimented on their little baby clouds – rainbows!

My Goodreads review shows a small illustration with the caption:
“YOU are so CUTE! Coochie, coochie, coo! . . .
OW!”

The curly characters like the “cute way” the Ploofers walk, “widdle waddle, widdle, waddle.”

At this point, I was starting to cringe a little. Then the Ploofers wander away into the trees, but the others think they are playing Hide and Seek. Well, no.

My Goodreads review shows a small illustration with the caption:
“Found you! . . .
But I don’t want to play hide and seek.”

So this Ploofer was told it obviously needed a nap because it looked sleepy, weepy“. Now I was getting uncomfortable and so were the Ploofers. Their ‘cute’ rainbow clouds were becoming decidedly angry.

My Goodreads review shows a small illustration with the caption:
“And I am NOT a cutie pie. . . KICK!
Ouch!”

Aha! The Ploofer isn’t being very respectful either, as it turns out. What it thought was a small pebble, is, in fact, somebody else, a somebody who makes its presence known. Have a look at that ‘smoky’ cloud!

My Goodreads review shows a small illustration with the caption:
“Poo! . . .
Excuse me! I do not like being kicked!”

I had to love the smelly little cloud! The Ploofer apologises, saying it was cross, but as WE all know, being cross may be a reason, but it’s no excuse. The new friend suggests they go together to tell the curly creatures how they feel. They don’t like being called small.

My Goodreads review shows a small illustration with the caption:
“I may be small, but I still need a little bit of respect.”

Apologies all around. How simple! Would they like to join the curly creatures for the picnic? Of course. But even when we know better, we all need reminding about our behaviour.

My Goodreads review shows a small illustration with the caption:
“Oh my! That little pebble is SO . . .
WAIT! Don’t say it!”

Note the angry little red dots beginning to escape the new friend. Of course the curly creature says “CUTE!” because how could it not?

My Goodreads review shows a small illustration with the caption:
“Oops!”

And thus the new friend shows that it can make a BIG impression when it needs to.

This was such fun and a reminder even to us grown-ups that we all need to find ways to compliment each other without getting too personal.

I remember Sally Field, the actress, saying she hated that she was always called cute. Someone brought that up a couple of years ago, and she said at her age now, she kind of liked it! Sometimes, you can’t win.

Great concept to have no genders, no ages, no obvious animal characteristics to skew the message. It can be tailored to anyone.

Thanks to NetGalley and Quarto Knows for the copy for review.
8 likes

*received for free from netgalley for honest review* great book to teach kids about respecting others and how to be respected themselves, would buy.

🌟🌟🌟💫
Well this book was adorable and cute though the characters may not like me saying that.
Clever way to teach manners, self-respect, and how to not make assumptions on what one may think people may like to be viewed. A tad dramatic though as I find it could have been done in a different way versus using size as a factor.
Great for kids and adults too...

I love the illustrations in this book the watercolor effect the simple drawings are fantastic. We have a little gray I think it’s a cloud and they are being called cute and they really do not like it. In a bit of a snit they and went off and someone else who is mistaken for something they’re not says hey it’s OK to say something to people talking to you in ways you don’t like, just like I did. At first I was a little curious where this book was going but in the end it becomes a great message that’s easy for kids to learn and understand. The illustrations also help hit all points of the message perfectly.

Another cute, simple picture book from Claire Alexander. This is perfect for read alouds. It teaches children about respect and boundary setting.

I just love this series of books! I fell in love with the book, 'A Little Bit Different' this year! We used it as a read aloud in a school-wide celebration during 'Read Across America.' I immediately purchased 'A Little bit of Courage' for our library, and I am so thrilled to also see this follow up, "A Little Bit of Respect.' This book is sweet, light-hearted and encouraging. The Ploofers are irresistible creatures, sure to capture your heart. The theme of respect is presented in a playful tone. I love that the disrespect experienced in this story is not coming from a place of ill-intention. I think it really encourages kids to be more thoughtful in their interactions with peers and it also inspires children to speak up when they feel they are feeling hurt. A great addition to any library!

I read this book with my son and we both giggled at the ending! I do believe this is a great understanding and way for kids to learn boundaries and respect. I enjoyed how the book played out and the respect that was met due to understanding. I also enjoyed the comedic relief ag the ending!!

The Ploofers are back! And I’m so conflicted.

The Ploofers take their rainbow cloud on an adventure and meet some new beings, whose names I don’t currently know. While they’re visiting, one of their new acquaintances doesn’t respect Little One’s boundaries, doing things like squishing their cheeks and constantly saying how cute they are.

This makes Little One uncomfortable and angry. I loved how expressive Little One was, their usual rainbow ploof transforming into red squiggly lines.

I was disappointed that Toasty, who was the first to recognise the beauty of the SHOOF! and was by Little One’s side as they overcame their fear of doing a new thing, was nowhere to be seen when Little One’s boundaries were being violated. I would have gotten over this because even Toasty can’t be everywhere and given what I know of them, they would have been there supporting Little One if they’d known what was happening and the impact it was having on them.

I was so excited when I started this book. I was entirely on board for the Ploofers to tackle consent. I loved that Little One had the confidence to set boundaries for themselves and the courage to speak up when they were crossed. They had every right to expect their boundaries to be respected and it looked as though all would be well.

The one who had made Little One uncomfortable listened when Little One explained how their behaviour made them feel. They validated Little One and apologised to them.

Then everything that was good about this book and its message was undone in the final three pages and now I have red squiggly lines above my head too.

I’m sure this is not the message that was intended but one of my takeaways, after all of the good that preceded it, was that even if you’re brave enough to stand up for yourself and set clear boundaries with someone, your voice ultimately means nothing. They’re just as likely to give you lip service and go do it to someone else. This is not okay!

If this book had finished just a little bit sooner, when the air had been cleared and everyone was sitting down for a nice picnic, this review would have been entirely different. I wish it was.

Thank you so much to NetGalley and Happy Yak, an imprint of Quarto Publishing Group - Frances Lincoln Children’s Books, for the opportunity to read this picture book.

This was a great book about teaching respect. It was presented in a fun way that children can easily understood and enjoy. I appreciated the clear communication and encouragement to speak out of you feel uncomfortable or you don't like like something - a great message for young children to learn! This book was silly, sweet and overall and important read. My three year old enjoyed it!

𝙏𝙝𝙖𝙣𝙠 𝙮𝙤𝙪 Quarto Publishing Group – Frances Lincoln Children's Books for a digital copy of this book! This book is due for publication 3/3/22.

💙 Mommy (@𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭.𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐦𝐨𝐦) and Ronan (@𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐤𝐤𝐢𝐝) approved ✅

𝑻𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒓𝒆𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒃𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒔𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒏 𝑰𝒏𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒎 𝒔𝒐𝒐𝒏 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝑨𝒎𝒂𝒛𝒐𝒏 𝒐𝒏 𝒑𝒖𝒃𝒍𝒊𝒄𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒅𝒂𝒚!

My 4-year-old twins LOVED this book! The Ploofers are exploring a new island when they come across Little One. One of the Ploofers thinks he is adorable and keeps going on about what a cutie pie he is. Little One grows angrier and angrier which is shown by red squiggles emerging. He kicks a pebble who he realizes is alive. The pebble reacts with a sort of fart cloud/noise. The two talk and pebble gives Little One the confidence to confront the offending Ploofer and tell her how he doesn’t like being called pet names.

My kids were howling laughing at the sound effects and “puffs” in this book. They also loved the colorful illustrations of the Ploofers. At the end of the story, we talked about how they sometimes felt frustrated when people called them adorable or cute. This is a wonderful book that can help teach children to stand up for themselves when they feel disrespected.

Thank you to NetGalley and Quarto Publishing Group for this digital ARC in exchange for an honest review.

This is an adorable book that gave me Dr Seuss vibes about being respectful to everyone and not calling them "pet names" when they don't like it.

Such a wonderful way to teach children that they have the right to respect and to speak up about their wants and needs. The dialogue is simple in the best way and would make a great jumping off point for conversations with kids about respect and expressing their feelings to others. The illustrations are lovely and the ploofers are truly adorable. I know my girls would love the rainbow cloud and how the ploofers make different things depending on their moods and feelings.

Such a cute story. This would be good to show children from very young to express themselves using their words to say we don't like x y or z.
This is definitely one I will be buying to add to my shelf

I enjoyed the message of the book. I do think the authors could have elaborated a bit more after the statement about needing respect, it felt like the answer was "oh, okay" and that was that. Still, a cute book on an important topic that can certainly help when explaining respect to your toddler.

Short and direct. This book provides a way for readers to learn that it's okay to have our feelings and what to do about those feelings in a productive way. The use of puffs of colorful clouds to convey emotions is unique and a great visual that can be used when talking with younger children about emotions.

You can't argue with success, and well, my three-year-old asked me to read this four times in a row on the first night we looked at it. It's a cute story with simple illustrations, and my kiddo just laughed and laughed about the little "rock" that poo's when it gets upset. Hopefully a little bit of the message sunk in too: that it's ok to tell someone when they are not treating you the way that you would like to be treated, or how to react when someone else tells you this. Night after night my kiddo keeps asking to read "the ploofers". This is a real hit!

Thank you to Claire Alexander, Quarto, and NetGalley for access to this free e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is my first Ploofers book and I found it to be a very unique depiction of respect. An important lesson, for sure, the story does a good job of showing what a small child may feel when not heard or when overlooked.

I love the lesson taught in this book. We all have a voice and are entitled to share it. How we share it is very important. I love SEL books. Like most SEL books some people need to read this book once and others need it often. One to keep around for those who need it though.