The Purple Puffy Coat: A Junior Library Guild Selection

Beetle gives Stick Bug an attention-grabbing coat for his birthday—but is that what Stick Bug really wants? A delightful story about friends learning to understand each other.

It’s almost Stick Bug’s birthday, and his fashionable friend Beetle can’t wait to give him his present—a purple puffy coat! The coat draws a lot of attention and makes Stick Bug really stick out in the crowd. Beetle thinks that’s terrific! He brings Stick Bug all over town, happily boasting and bragging (while Stick Bug waits behind a tree, in a pile of leaves, or under a bench). Oh, dear—maybe Stick Bug isn’t as wild about the purple puffy coat as Beetle is! What can the two friends do? Charming illustrations bring to life both characters’ endearing struggles in this warm and humorous story about learning to pay attention to what makes your friend happy rather than what makes you happy.

Maribeth Boelts is the author of many books for young readers, including Those Shoes and A Bike Like Sergio’s, both illustrated by Noah Z. Jones; Happy Like Soccer, illustrated by Lauren Castillo; and Kaia and the Bees, illustrated by Angela Dominguez. Maribeth Boelts lives in Iowa.

Daniel Duncan is the author-illustrator of the picture book South and the illustrator of Mr. Posey’s New Glasses, written by Ted Kooser, among other books for children. Daniel Duncan lives outside London.