Friska, the Sheep That Was Too Small

by Rob Lewis

A lamb who never seems to grow saves her flock from a wolf and is never laughed at again.

Genres: Picture Books

Paperback

First published October 22, 1987

Reviews

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Simple story with a great message about turning your weaknesses into strengths.

[Josh Sonii · Rating 3 out of 5]

Friska is very small sheep but unlike all the other sheep as she got older she stayed the same size. Friska did everything that she could to make herself appear larger than she actually was. She uses the snow but it eventually melted. She tried to use the white blossoms during fall but the wind would blow them away. She even stole a fleece from the shepherd but he eventually got it back. One day something evil came to the village, but it did not see her because she was too small. Will she be able to us that to her advantage or will she survive while every one else is attacked?

I thought this story was decent and it can teach kids a great lesson. Certain things that you do not like about yourself can possibly be an advantage in the future. I personally did not like the illustrations because I do not like the chalky type backgrounds. I have just never liked them, but the colors are very vibrants. Kids would probably enjoy the pictures because they are very appealing and bright. Overall this is a very simple book that a child would enjoy, but I do not think it would be a kids favorite book.

[Julia · Rating 3 out of 5]

Friska the sheep is much too small compared to all of her friends and she was not very happy about this. She tried many different ways to make herself look bigger, like covering herself with snow and putting cherry blossoms on herself. However, she comes in to save the day and saves all of the other sheep.
I personally did not really connect with the images. It was more two dimensional but I believe that a younger audience would have a very enjoyable time seeing the simple but colorful images. I did also like that the story had a moral in it and in the end Friska saved the day.
Overall, I did enjoy reading this but was not very immersed in the picture book. The moral behind the story was great and would be good to bring up to younger students. Because of the good writing style and moral, I can see myself reading this aloud to my future students.

[Kianna Buckner · Rating 4 out of 5]

"Friska, The Sheep That Was Too Small" by Rob Lewis is a great book. Friska was the smallest sheep. She always got laughed at by other sheep because she was so small until a wold tried to hurt the other sheep. She crept up behind the wolf and bit his tail and he ran away. After that, the sheep never laughed at her again.

I think the author did a great job with this story. I think this is a great story for kids in 1st and 2nd grade. It would be a great story to read when bullying is going on.

The illustrations were really good. They were full double paged on each page of the book. I think they could have had a little more detail. I like how the illustrator used color show moods on each page.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

Okay, so this is an older title and children now probably won't read it. The theme of the story of being the smallest sheep is touching and Frisks does save the flock. The illustrations and use of color were great, they reminded me of the English illustrator, John Burningham.