Kindness breeds kindness, and generosity begets generosity. Brooklyn Beaver is on a special assignment given to her by her older brother. She is to bring the supplies for building a beaver dam. Florenza Denise Lee tells the story in Brooklyn Beaver Almost Builds a Dam: A Book on Persistence. As Brooklyn pulls the heavy wagon with the supplies, she runs into several animals who want some of the supplies for their use. Being a gracious and kind beaver, Brooklyn freely gives some of her building material to each creature that asks. Even though the wagon is heavy and hard to pull, Brooklyn does not give up. When she finally arrives at the building site, her brother is annoyed that the wagon is empty. Children need to learn that sometimes they can be too generous. It all worked out since Brooklyn’s generosity and kindness led the other animals to be helpful and kind in return. Another great lesson in this book is that remarkable things can be accomplished by working together as a unit.

Beavers build dams. That is what they do. But have you ever thought of how much arduous work goes into making a dam? First, they must gather building materials, and lug them to the building site before building the dam. Even though Brooklyn struggled to pull the supplies to the building site, she never gave up. Instead, she persisted in her effort to reach her brother, who was waiting at the site for the dam. The way Florenza Denise Lee presents the story encourages children to be kind and generous. They are also taught to persevere until the job is done. Buy this book to read to or with your children while discussing the values of kindness, generosity, and persistence with them. Help them understand that when we show these traits, others will often reciprocate. Brooklyn Beaver Almost Builds a Dam is full of examples for children to emulate.

Brooklyn Beaver Almost Builds a Dam: A Book on Persistence is a children's picture book by Florenza Denise Lee with some beautiful illustrations by Eduardo Paj. Brooklyn the beaver comes across a host of animals on the way to deliver the supplies for building a dam by the river to her brother Bryceson. Each of them asks Brooklyn for something out of her cart. As a kind-hearted beaver, Brooklyn agrees to help her friends and gives them what they need. When she arrives at her destination, Brooklyn is shocked to see that the barrow is almost empty. Seeing that Bryceson is upset, she goes back to each of her friends, who readily agree to help her in any way she needs. They all accompany her to the river, and together, they work toward building the dam.

Florenza Denise Lee tells a charming tale of a generous beaver who finds help in the most unexpected ways because of her habit of helping others in their time of need. Brooklyn Beaver Almost Builds a Dam is an engaging story that teaches children the significance of helping others and how everyone needs outside help at times. The characters are lively and likable, and you find yourself rooting for Brooklyn almost from the start. Eduardo Paj's colorful illustrations make the characters vibrant and light a spark to fire your imagination. This is a storybook that children of all ages should read as it is entertaining as well as educational. I had a wonderful time reading it and highly recommend it.

Brooklyn Beaver ALMOST Builds a Dam, written by Florenza Denise Lee and illustrated by Eduardo Paj, is a children's picture book about persistence from the point of view of a young beaver named Brooklyn. Brooklyn is as ready as she can be to build a dam and is on her way to meet her friend Bryceson. As she makes her way with the building supplies, she is approached by others who request small amounts of supplies from her. These range from a few sticks for a bird named Wrenn's nest, to some stones for a rabbit named Rae. By the time she reaches Bryceson, the supplies have almost gone, but with some quick thinking and teamwork, the dam might just get built.

Brooklyn Beaver ALMOST Builds a Dam is a wonderful little book with loads to offer both visually and with its message. As this is a children's picture book, let's start with the artwork by Eduardo Paj, who is exceptionally talented in bringing the characters to life with a vibrant, full-color palette and illustrations with all the elements of modern digital animation. They are bold, lively, and of the highest quality. In a twist that I may not have come across in children's literature recently, the actual storytelling and message are equal to the illustrations themselves. Florenza Denise Lee has written a story so engaging that it would hold my children's attention even without the illustrations. You do not know my kids but, trust me, that's huge. Everything comes together beautifully and I am so very happy to have this book in our nightly bedtime rotation.

Brooklyn is a rather busy and very friendly beaver. While carting much-needed supplies to help her brother build a dam, she meets other animals who lighten her load by taking what they need. Brooklyn doesn’t mind; she’s kind and giving in nature and it does mean she can move along more quickly. The only thing is after she allowed the woodpecker to take twigs for his nest, the grasshopper to take leaves for his snack, and others to take this and that, Brooklyn arrives at the allotted spot with an empty wheelbarrow. Her brother is quite angry, but Brooklyn, ever resourceful, returns to the friends she’s helped and graciously asks for her wheelbarrow contents to be returned. Since the contents have already been used, each recipient of Brooklyn’s kindness responds with a kindness of their own. When you do a kind deed, the kind deed returns to you in a multitude of ways.

Florenza Denise Lee’s picture book story, Brooklyn Beaver ALMOST Builds a Dam: A Book on Persistence, is a clever way to teach kindness and persistence. The plot follows Brooklyn’s journey with the very full and quite heavy wheelbarrow, and the many friends she meets along the way, all of whom she assists by freely giving something from the wheelbarrow. The language is simple and the illustrations are superb – bright, colorful, and cheery. I love the way Brooklyn is always depicted as a happy little beaver, with a quick sense of humor for any situation. Brooklyn is the epitome of sharing is caring and what goes around comes around. I love the characterization and the almost funny predicament Brooklyn finds herself in. But this busy little beaver is also resourceful and, even though she freely gave away gifts from her wheelbarrow, she politely explains to each recipient her own predicament and then everyone wants to pitch in to help. This is an educational and entertaining story; a real gem.