Member Reviews

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Climb is an adorable children's rhyming picture book about Hetty; a small elephant who longs to be able to climb trees like her friends. Hetty has determination and the support of her friends to try to learn how to climb, but being an elephant, she's just not made for climbing trees like them. Just before the climbing competition, Hetty realises that everyone is different and so are their strengths and talents. The very next day, Hetty saves the day as a forest fire burns through the jungle. This was a cute story with a great moral for children to encourage them to be who they are, embrace their uniqueness, and love themselves. The back of the book has some activities to boost self-esteem for them to do, too.

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This is an adorable story that teaches little ones all about learning to love their own uniqueness and celebrate who they are as an individual. In this cute adventure we follow Hetty the elephant who wants to win the climbing competition and works so hard towards that goal. Sadly though it seems elephants aren’t meant to climb and she begins to feel she doesn’t have any talents or strengths. All that changes quickly when she steps up to help the others when danger comes to the competition. I love the heartfelt meaning of this story. It is told in a beautiful way. The illustrations are simple with a calming look and an adorable little elephant. Together they create a wonderful story every little one needs to hear. Our family loves this story. It is great for an early childhood classroom and a homeschool classroom.

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Climb by Hannah Peckham

⭐5 Fantastic Stars
Climb is a sweet book with an important message for our children, especially the most insecure ones.
Climb tells the story of the little elephant Hetty who wanted to prove that elephants, if they wanted to, could also climb trees. With the help of her friends, Hetty realised that we don't all have the same abilities, aspirations and strengths, and that we're probably destined to do something different if we know how to wait for the right moment.

"We all are good at something, elephant, fish, bird, or bee."

🐘Characters: Hetty, the brave and fearless elephant.
🐘Illustrations: Beautiful bright colours and creative landscapes
🐘Language: rhyming book, easy to understand. Catchy and melodic.
🐘Reading Experience: the questions at the end of the book for us to work on with our child are fantastic and make the story very dynamic, while at the same time offering tools for parents to work on the differences and virtues of their little ones.

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Hetty is such a sweetheart, and this is a lovely story about loving who you are and what your strengths are. As my class reviews the “All About Me” theme, I will absolutely read Hetty’s story so that they can learn just how special each one of them is and that we don’t need to compare ourselves. Thank you to NetGalley for this special ARC!

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The cover of this book really caught my attention. The illustrations in the book were cute and gorgeous. I also loved the little activities at the end. The book’s message was good too. However, I didn’t find the story itself that engaging. Certain chunks of text felt a little bit clunky. It was by no means bad, but in my personal opinion, it wasn’t my favourite.

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It is a very cute book with simple rhyming stanzas that make this a great read-aloud. The pictures are utterly adorable.

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My littles and i loved this book. The pictures are cute and whimsy. The story is such a great message. I love how determined Hetty was and that in the end she trusted her instincts. As a parent i loved the little Q&A and the end and was thrilled that my kids understood and we were able to have a real conversation!

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The message of this book is great, but I feel like the journey to get it was a bit rocky and not in the good sense. I also feel like the illustrations could be improved and maybe add a little bit of humour to the book.

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An adorable story about how just because someone else is good at something that you may not be, that does not make you less than. This feels like a very important story for children and perfectly captures it for a much younger audience than this type of message is usually for, It proves that it is never too early to teach your kids that their worth is never going to be decided on only one thing and that our differences are what truly allows us all to be worthy.

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𝗖𝗟𝗜𝗠𝗕 was a lovely read and the message that it imparts to young readers, is a truly special one. Fitting in is never easy and the need to do so starts at a young age. This book tells the story of an elephant that feels like a failure because they cannot fit into someone else’s shoes (metaphorically speaking). With its lovely illustration it teaches us that we all have unique qualities that make us special. This is a very important message and a lovely way to impart it. 𝗖𝗟𝗜𝗠𝗕 Is a lovely addition to any personal or classroom library.

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I received an arc of this title from NetGalley for an honest review. I found that this book was far too wordy for the kind of story that it was and for the ages it was geared to. I did like the illustrations and the rhyming.

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This book tells the story of an elephant who just wants to fit in with her jungle friends who climb trees and do things that elephants simply cannot do. One day a forest fire erupts and it is Hettie the elephant’s trunk that saves the day, proving to her and all of her friends that special talents are within all of us and being unique is a great thing. The book ends with a little worksheet/colouring page to help discuss the story which is a great addition. I love the illustrations and the message within the story. The text is written in rhyme and the font is large and fairly easy to read. I would definitely recommend this book. I could see myself reading this to students in the grade k-3 range, and this would make an excellent addition to my classroom library. Thanks to netgalley and the publisher for giving me the chance to read and review this beautiful book.

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I ADORE THIS BOOK! It's the perfect message of friendship, uniqueness, and how everyone has strengths. It rhymes, which my daughter loves. And the illustrations are beautiful. I will definitely be buying this!

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In a forest filled with animals, there was an elephant calf named Hetty. Hetty was different from the rest because she couldn't climb trees. She and her two friends enjoyed playing in the water, yet they wanted to be like the primates in the forest. The other animals, especially the primates, could climb trees easily. Hetty felt sad and lonely because she couldn't do what the other animals could do. She wanted to be like them so badly. She tried and tried to climb the trees, but she always failed. One day, Hetty and her friends decided to join a climbing competition in the forest. Hetty was worried, but she wanted to try her best. During the competition, something unexpected happened in the forest.

Will Hetty be able to use her special skills to do the right thing and save the day?

The pictures were vibrant and full of color. The book conveyed a truly heartwarming message. I liked the interesting questions at the end. The worksheets were a great addition to the book.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with an advance review copy (ARC) of this book. All opinions expressed in this review are my own.

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The dedication in this book tells it all: To the little girl who questioned her worth because of her difference and anyone who found themselves doing the same. Hetty is an elephant cub who keeps trying to find her thing that she's good at. She struggles through the whole story to try to climb and she just can't do it. Until she realizes that she doesn't have to be like everyone else and everyone has things they are good at. This story has such a great message for little ones and the illustrations are so sweet.

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This was an adorable little story showing how even if we don’t feel like we measure up—— it’s just that we are using the wrong ruler. The illustrations were very clean and adorable and my daughter really loved pointing out all the animals.

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This is a Children's book that I read to my twin boys. The wording/rhyming in this book was too much in this book because there were parts of this book that did not flow easy and were hard to read. I did enjoyed the message in this book, and the pictures in the book are so cute. I received an ARC of this book. This review is my own honest opinion about the book like all my reviews are.

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This book goes a bit literal on the quote “if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.” Except it’s not a fish, it’s an elephant. Still a tree, though. Feels a bit silly to change one aspect of the analogy and keep the other, but I digress.

Hetty the elephant admires the heroes of the forest: the monkeys, the real pro tree-climbers. But she’s never even placed in the rankings. But this is her year. She trains and trains and…can’t climb. But perhaps she has other skills that could be of value….

I think my main problem with this book is that it’s too harpy. There’s no show, just tell. And, I mean, sometimes it’s really “hit the nail on the head” tell, like the line “you don’t know someone’s world until you walk within their shoes.” And “each of them learned a valuable life lesson.”

I appreciate the effort of telling the story in rhyme, but knew that wasn’t enough for my kid. Typically, a rhyming book hasher very excited. But she just didn’t react much to this one. I think, by the time anything significant happened, she’d lost interest. Not a great start.

I wasn’t a fan of the lumpy animals, as an art style. I don’t deman realism in picture books, of course, but this style feels more…Precious Moments? A bit too twee. And there’s quite a bit of whitespace backgrounds, which makes this jungle feel rather…deforested. Hetty won’t have to worry about tree climbing, if this keeps up.

So, overall, this book gets a 3-star. Which, in my rating, means I wouldn’t think to recommend it to someone, but if someone came up to me and asked if it’s a good book, I wouldn’t chase them away from the choice. It’s just…kinda there. A random library pickup kind of book. :/

Advanced reader copy provided by the publisher.

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This was an adorable story about an elephant who wants to climb a tree. Later she learns that everyone has their own set of skills and we shouldn't judge everyone based on a single thing. It rhymes, the pictures are adorable, and it has a wonderful message of self-acceptance. One of my favorite picture books that I've read recently.

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Climb is a super cute children's picture book about a young elephant, who doesn't feel much self-worth because she can't climb trees. I thought the illustrations and the message of the story were very well done. There were times that the prose seemed a little clunky & overly long to me, but I was still very invested in Hetty's story. I loved her friends and they way they supported her in finding what Hetty was good at.

Thanks to NetGalley, Hannah Peckham, and Rosen Publishing for the chance to read and review. My thoughts and opinions are my own.

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