Honestly – I feel the title on this one. This one focuses on a precious baby manatee who is not looking forward to her upcoming second birthday. The precious little manatee knows all too well that once she turns two, as it the way of manatees, her mom will go back to the herd and she will left to fend for herself. More than that, she is worried because a lot of the other fish do not want to play with her due to her size. Her mom reiterates that one day she will find the best of best friends, and will know they’re her people right away, because they will love her for exactly who she is. This precious little under the sea coming of age story will tug at your heartstrings, but overall, it is a wonderful message about new horizons, growing up, and finding our place in the world.

I loved the illustrations on this book! The animals were so cute and the narrative was awesome. The illustrations and story depicts the relationship of a little mantee and mama mantee and how the mama mantee teaches the baby of what is in the outside world and how it will find friends of its own. A powerful message to young children!

I thought that this was an enjoyable book

The story was easy to follow and it was fun to read with my daughter who thoroughly enjoyed it too, the illustrations are lovely and really made us smile

It is four stars from me for this one –highly recommended!

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

Growing Up is Hard To Do Part 1 is a tale featuring some familiar characters (Grumpy the iguana and hos friends) and a new character Baby the manatee. Baby is almost two and that means she will separate from her mother and go alone out into the ocean. Baby is scared about leaving her mum and being on her own as she doesn't feel as though she fits in with other ocean dwellers. Baby's mum tries to reassure her and remind her how proud and unique manatees are. The story is in two halves and we end on a little cliff hanger in this book. This is quite fun for children as they will really want to know what happens next. This book teaches children about manatees and how they are different to fish and has some great illustrations. I'm looking forward to reading part two next!