It’s Showtime! A Pepper and Frannie Story shines for young ages

 Frannie and Pepper are two best friends. It’s a tough animal world out there and these two rabbits make the best of it. Frannie is outgoing and loves to be the center of attention while Pepper is a bit more introverted. Pepper is more the planner, while Frannie is doing improvisational songs or dancing in the street. It’s the Odd Couple for pre-K through early elementary school kids and It’s Showtime! is all about their show.

Frannie is putting on a show so that the entire town can see her musical talents. Thankfully she coaxes Pepper out from behind the scenes to assist with the stage, props, decorations and more. The night of the big show she starts with a bang, full of pomp and circumstance, but has trouble remembering her songs. Specifically, she can’t even remember the first chord from the first song.

Pepper is better with Frannie and vice versa. When she starts to choke on stage he has the presence of mind to drag the piano out on stage and starts playing the first couple bars. This startles her at first, but then they realize that they’re a team and can play off each other’s strengths and weaknesses. Without her talent and desire to be on stage he wouldn’t be provided the chance to plan or organize. Likewise, if he weren’t such an excellent planner or detail oriented her scatter brained plans would never come to fruition.

It’s Showtime! is a story that adult readers have certainly seen before and that is to be expected with many illustrated books. Where the book does stand out is that kids in pre-K through early elementary will be able to follow along with it. The book is very soft and simple. The sentences are very short, yet they tell a complete age-appropriate story that manages to completely flesh out the two main characters. This is a book that emerging readers will reach up to read. By that I mean, once kids are able to read It’s Showtime! on their own, they won’t want to read it anymore.

That is a great thing. For a short season, say when most readers are going into kindergarten or first grade, this will be a ‘big kid’ book about the differences that everyone, regardless of their age has. It’s a lesson that everyone needs to learn and that adults haven’t mastered. Your weakness can be my strength and vice versa.

Our kids have slowly learned this lesson. I typed this at the pool. While doing so I overheard my younger son ask a group of kids if he and his older brother could play with them. That was a big thing for them because we’ve been teaching them about the yin & yang aspects to their relationship. One is more cerebral and one is a louder, more social creature. In a way they’re their own Pepper and Frannie story, albeit at the pool whilst playing Marco Polo.

It’s Showtime! A Pepper and Frannie Story is by Catherine Lazar Odell and available on Page Street Publishing.

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