Slow Samson

by Bethany Christou

A sweet but slow-moving sloth gets a wonderful surprise from his friends in this illustrated picture book about taking your time and accepting yourself.

Everyone likes Samson the sloth! He is friendly and kind and always willing to lend a hand, so he gets lots of invitations to parties. But no matter how hard he tries, Samson moves too slowly to ever make it to the party: by the time he gets there, the cake is all eaten up and the games are finished. Can Samson's clever friends figure out a way to celebrate their favorite sloth -- and make sure he doesn't miss a moment of it?

Genres: Picture Books, Animals, Friendship, Childrens, Fiction, Storytime

40 pages, Hardcover

First published May 2, 2019

About the author

Bethany Christou is a children’s book artist who loves to create stories with heart. Slow Samson is her author-illustrator debut. She lives in Hertfordshire, England.

Reviews

[yağmur · Rating 5 out of 5]

ege okurken pek takmadı, görselleri de görmüyor zaten(yani sanırım?) yine de dinledi sağolsun.

istanbulda yaşarken ben de bir ağır aksak’tım… o yüzden çok sevdim shdje okuması çok keyifliydi büyüyünce gülerek dinler diye düşünüyorum.

[Mary · Rating 4 out of 5]

Samson is a friendly, popular sloth who is invited to plenty of parties, but unfortunately he is always late and winds up missing the party entirely. This makes him very sad. Fortunately, Samson has a lot of friends who really care about him. A sweet friendship story! The plot is similar to the sloth's story in First Day Critter Jitters by Jory John, but sloth is only one of a number of characters and Jory John's book is much funnier although just as sweet. Add this to the list of cute sloth picture books which includes Sparky by Jenny Offill and "Slowly, Slowly, Slowly," said the Sloth by Eric Carle.

[Andrew · Rating 5 out of 5]

Samson is everyone's friend, and he's a great peacemaker, always willing to help out a critter in need. He doesn't always feel like a good friend though, especially when he's late for parties he's invited to. Would he still make events in time if he didn't help others along the way-- and is it worth ignoring his friends? Slow Samson is absolutely precious! A sweet creature like him is bound to find kindness waiting for him in return. Fuzzy and heartwarming, I'm in love with the whole jungle!

[Stephanie Tournas · Rating 5 out of 5]

Samson the sloth loves his friends and tries to think of ways to make them happy. His problem is that he is so slow that he always misses out on their parties. When he tries to ignore his friends in order to make it on time, he still is too slow. Finally his friends figure out a way to get Samson to a party, one that is just for him, and to show him their appreciation of his friendship. It’s a sweet, feel-good story that has a clear message of friendship and accepting differences. The lovely gouache and pencil art depicts the rainforest animals and their forest home with expressiveness and details that kids will enjoy. Additionally, the endpapers show before and after. A winning title.

[Cheryl A. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Samson is not alone a slow mover, but a slow learner. It takes his friends' collective brainpower to come up with the one obvious solution to the problem. There are other possible solutions; see if your children can come up with any.

3.5 stars for good intentions, rounded up because even slow learners can be heroes, as Samson has all the patience in the world for his friends and neighbors, and the world needs more patient members of our communities.

Btw, I saw a sloth in a 'zoo' fairly recently (I may not have gone if I'd realized it wasn't just an aquarium) and they can move when they want to, so this isn't even accurate.

[April · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book has more reading involved than the majority of picture books I review. Sloths are very cool and are known for being super slow. Samson has some great friends & he is also a great friend. Parties and cake are fun, but sometimes it's good to show up when the cake is gone so you don't have to try to have willpower.

[معصومه توکلی · Rating 3 out of 5]

عنوان ترجمهٔ فارسی: سمسون تنبلِ زرنگ

[SilverNediya · Rating 4 out of 5]

حسن تعلیل خوبی برای کندبودن تنبل داره
از عنوان فارسی‌ش خیلی خوشم نیومد

[Mojan · Rating 4 out of 5]

اوخی، سمسون رو درک می‌کنم. 😅

[shutterbug423 · Rating 3 out of 5]

Bir tembel hayvan olan Aksak'ın dünyada en çok sevdiği şey başkalarını mutlu etmek. Bir sürü arkadaşı var ve her zaman her partiye davet ediliyor. Aksak çok yavaş olduğu için partilere hep geç kalıyor. Aksak, bir dahakine elini çabuk tutmaya karar veriyor ve bir sonraki partiye giderken yolda arkadaşı ağaç kurbağasını görünce sohbete etmeye vakti olmadığını söyleyerek onu tersliyor, kavga eden maymunları ayıracak zamanı olmadığını düşünerek 'kendi aranızda hallediverin' diyor. Ters dönen kaplumbağaya da yardım etmeden yoluna devam ediyor. Herkesi 'çok acelem var' diyerek tersliyor ama yine de doğum gününe yetişemiyor. Arkadaşlarının aklına bir fikir geliyor ama saat 4'te başlayacak parti için ona parti 2'de başlayacak diyorlar.
Öykü tatlı ve resimler de çok hoş ama alt metinde Aksak'ın aceleyle bir sürü arkadaşını terslemesi ve yine de hedefine ulaşamaması da iyi bir mesaj olmamış açıkçası. O kısımda alt metni sevmedim açıkçası. Hiç acele etmese sorumluluk almamış olur aksine sürekli acele edince de arkadaşlarının kalbini kırdı. Okul öncesi çocuklara bu daha iyi anlatılabilirdi diye düşünüyorum.

[Shanna · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a sweet book! Samson the sloth has tons of friends. However, he has trouble getting to go see them because he gets distracted by other things. By the time he gets to the party, he is always late! He just can’t seem to go any faster. How frustrating. Luckily, Samson’s friends have some ideas on how to help him. This book is filled with wonderful illustrations and is very entertaining. It is especially relatable for kids (and kids at heart) who have executive functioning problems but just want to fit in! 4.5 stars.

[Molly Cluff (Library!) · Rating 4 out of 5]

Candlewick really wins with cute storytime books--simple plotlines with darling illustrations. An adorable sloth keeps missing parties because he travels their too slowly. His friends finally help him out and put an earlier time on his invite so he doesn't miss the party (which begs the question of why Samson didn't just leave from home earlier himself?? Although we use this tactic in my family with certain family members who are always late, haha).

[Ella · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a lovely book about friendship. Samson is very slow and always misses the parties, this makes him feel sad. His friends arrange a way to help Samson get there on time. The colours in the pictures reflect Samson’s feelings and could create good discussions. This is a lovely book to promote inclusions and friendships.

[Ollie Skyba · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book stole my heart with its message that kindness isn't measured by speed but by effort and heart.
Samson, the sloth, reminds me that it's okay to move at your own pace — because showing up for others, even if you're late, still counts.
It is definitely a joyful reminder that being "slow" doesn’t mean you can’t make a big impact!

[Bethe · Rating 4 out of 5]

These animals sure know how to party 😉 their solution to get Samson to arrive on time is what some of us might do with our habitually late friends. Love the animals wearing birthday hats! Be sure to notice the front and back end pages.

[Andréa]

Note: I accessed a digital review copy of this book through Edelweiss.

[A. · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very sweet picture book encouraging friends to support one another.

[Edward Sullivan · Rating 4 out of 5]

A friendship story with lots of warmth and charm.

[Caitlin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful illustrations, and a wonderful story of friendship and kindness.

[Mrs Heet -Librarian · Rating 5 out of 5]

An extremely sweet book about friendship!

[Azin · Rating 3 out of 5]

در بابِ پذیرشِ تفاوتها و درک یکدیگر…

[Carmen Owen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Everything about this book is wonderful!