Orris and Timble: Lost and Found by Carmen Mok, Kate DiCamillo
Series: Orris and Timble
Published by Candlewick Press on April 29, 2025
ISBN: 1536225304
Pages: 80
Genres: Adventure, Animals, Children's Beginning Readers, Farm Life, Nature
Format: Chapter Book Fiction
Source: MSL Book Review
Goodreads

Unlikely friends Timble the owl and Orris the rat suffer a sudden separation in this second book of a planned trilogy. i liked this book even more. than the first one. Each night, Timble visits Orris in the barn and listens to his stories. Orris is growing bigger and one evening Timble doesn’t show and Orris feels abandoned. When Timble  doesn’t appear the second night, his feelings turn resentful. When Timble finally does return and explains how he was lost, Orris heeds the slogan on the salvaged sardine tin, “Make the good and noble choice”,

As the Library Journal reviewer stated (and I could not figure out how to say it better), “DiCamillo’s short chapters and simple sentences, paired with Mok’s spare, sepia-toned, neatly drawn pictures of barnyard settings, will appeal to early elementary readers, and younger if shared as a read-aloud.” Children will relate to this tender story of hurt feelings, misunderstandings, and  forgiveness. Ages 6-8.

I know we usually don’t nominate a second book in a series for Cream of the Crop, but I am making an exception.

Barb Rehmeyer, Liberty Library