Sam Is Never Scared

by Thierry Robberecht, Philippe Goossens (Illustrator)

Sam is an adorable new character whom preschoolers are sure to identify with. In this debut story, Sam thinks of himself as the bravest kid at school and calls his friends Max a scaredy-cat. But when Sam is scared by a spider, it's Max who saves the day. Now Sam does have something to be afraid of--what if Max tells everyone that it's really Sam who's the scaredy-cat?

Expressive, soft-edged illustrations capture the reassuring theme that everyone is afraid of something--it's how you face your fear that makes you brave.

Genres: Childrens, Picture Books, Animals, Storytime

32 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2006

Reviews

[Melki]

Sam likes to appear brave, but truthfully, he's scared of a lot of things . . . the biggest of which is the other dogs finding out that he's not as fearless as he seems. Now his friend knows his secret. Will he tell everyone else?

I wasn't overly fond of Philippe Goossens' illustrations, but the story is solid.

[Abigail Ortiz]

In this book sam says how he's not scared of anything and how his best friends is a scary cat because he's scared of a lot of things but then one day while sam was with his friends a spider claimed on sam and sam was so scared he stated crying and his friend wasn't scared of spiders and took the spider off sam, sam didn't want his best friend to tell people that he was a scary-cat because he was scared of a spider and once he realized that his best friend didn't say anything he felt a lot better and I really think that this teaches kids that not everything needs to be told and its ok to have some secrets with friends.

[Elisha Calhoun]

Sam is Never Scared is a simple way to explaining bravery. Sam introduces himself by stating that he is never scared. He then introduces his friend Max by stating he is “scared of everything”. Obviously, being scared or not scared of things is very important to Sam. It is so important that he doesn’t want any of his friends to know that he is secretly scared of some things as well. This book does an amazing job of describing what it means to be brave, which is to not be scared of admitting when you’re scared.

[Sirah]

Sam can do things no one else dares to do, and he even mocks those kids who won't do baby stuff like climb trees or stand up on the swings. But it turns out everyone is a little afraid of something, but in our weaknesses, we find connection.

This is a simple and sweet story that reminds us that we're more similar than different, even if we're afraid of different things.

[Michael]

I like the lesson here, although a lot of it is read between the lines, and the language is a little confusing for little ones. For example: "I'm not scared of being a scaredy-cat". I thought they really copped out when the kid asked if the father was ever afraid and he only told them about something he was afraid of when he was little, like he's not afraid of anything now.

[Karen]

Sam may not be scared, but Sam is not smart, either. He models incredibly bad and dangerous behavior that would get him kicked off any playground in the U.S.

Glossing over the "I'm not reading that!" parts, the rest of the story was just OK. It did impart a lesson -- sort of -- but any lesson impelled by fear is not really a very good lesson.

[Jennifer]

I liked this book because it showed that everyone gets scared. I liked the ending. I would read this book if someone was getting bullied about something they were scared of. I would have my students write about something that scared them then about something that did not scare them.

[Kristin]

great lesson about bullying

[Rose]

E Rob

[Hannah Cobb]

The illustrations are bold and colorful, but the text is a little too didactic for my taste. I would choose a different book on bullies and/or being scared to read for storytime.

[Alivia]

I don't like books that introduce the idea of being scared of monsters under the bed and ghosts behind curtains.

[Elaine]

Very good story about the facing the fear factor or being termed a "scaredy-cat." We all enjoyed the acknowledgement of this during preschool story time. A good lesson.