Thankfully in the case of "Iced Out" by CK Smouha and Isabella Bunnell, both author and artist have indeed brought their A-Game, delivering a nifty ocean-based tale of three distinctly different animals who soon realise that despite their appearance, they all have something in common.
Wilfred is a Walrus and Neville is a Narwhal and the two pals are in Miss Blubber's class. The only problem is that they do stick out like a sore thumb as they're the only two animals who aren't seals! Eep!
When Betty Beluga joins the class, she helps Wilf and Nev to realise their own potential. She's smart, funny and great at football (bet you didn't know that Belugas are brilliant at footie!) and though she might look a bit 'odd' compared to other whales, she never lets her appearance hold her back.
So can Wilfred and Neville discover their own unique talents and finally integrate and perhaps even become popular in school?
Kids will wholly identify what it feels like to be a bit of a fish out of water, and sometimes it feels like everyone else in school has something in common - and if you don't 'fit in' it can be a tough time, but this book rather stylishly shows that sometimes it takes others to recognise the awesomeness we secretly carry around with us all the time.
Sum this book up in a sentence: A brilliantly written and gorgeously illustrated life lesson that will help kids realise that 'different can be cool'
"Iced Out" by CK Smouha and Isabella Bunnell is out now, published by Cicada Books (kindly supplied for review).