• Age: 4 to 7
• Grade: k to 2
• Reading age: 4 to 7

When Federica invites the animals from the park back to her house, chaos ensues!

Federica’s busy family can’t keep their house clean! To get away from the buzzy, buggy mess, she escapes to the peaceful park where she can spend time with her animal friends…which gives her an idea.

She brings home sheep and goats, spiders and dragonflies, a toad, an owl, and some raccoons. Then she takes her family to the park for a picnic, and while they’re gone, the animals chomp the overgrown grass in the backyard, eat the garbage and catch the pesky bugs overrunning the house. After a peaceful afternoon at the park, Federica’s family comes home to a clean house — and raccoons doing the dishes!

Scot Ritchie’s warm art and original story bring a fresh perspective to the busy-family challenge of keeping the house clean, while featuring a clever and resourceful young girl who knows that, sometimes, letting nature back into our lives is the best answer.

Correlates to the Common Core State Standards in English Language Arts:

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.3
With prompting and support, identify characters, settings, and major events in a story.

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.K.7
With prompting and support, describe the relationship between illustrations and the story in which they appear (e.g., what moment in a story an illustration depicts).

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3
Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events

Scot Ritchie est un auteur-illustrateur primé vivant à Vancouver, en Colombie-Britannique. Il a illustré, et parfois écrit, plus de 40 livres pour enfants, dont Suivons la carte, Dis-moi pourquoi et There was an Old Lady that Swallowed a Puck.

Scot Ritchie is an award winning illustrator who lives in Vancouver British Columbia. He has illustrated over 40 children's books, (some of which he also wrote) including Let's Go! The Story of Getting from There to Here, Up, Up and Away and the Basics for Beginners series, Hockey, Baseball and Soccer.

Scot Ritchie's profile page

Scot Ritchie has created a win-win: Parents get a book that encourages their kids to unplug, go outside and pay attentions to their surroundings, kids get a story that doesn't moralize or chastise them and everyone gets to read a book about funny anthropomorphic animals.

Globe and Mail

The loose ink-and-Adobe Photoshop illustrations are a riot, milking the absurdity for all it's worth. … There's plenty of yuck-factor silliness, and the penultimate spread, of the family uniting for "cleanup hour," is very inviting.

Kirkus Reviews

Children and caregivers are sure to savor this tale of a problem-solving girl; a strong choice for picture book shelves.

School Library Journal