Book Review: Chloe and the Closet of Secrets
Setting the Bar
There’s generally always something to like about a kids book. Maybe it’s the gorgeous cover and illustrations that you can pore over each time you read it with your kids. Sometimes it’s a fun story that draws you in. But every now and then you find a kids book that’s brilliant. It starts with a creative idea or angle you’ve never considered. The author takes you on a ride that teases it out, keeps you engaged, usually makes you giggle a few times, and leaves you feeling satisfied as you consider their genius in telling their story.
My first experience like this was reading The Day the Crayons Quit to our youngest when she was 3 or 4 years old. It’s a story of a boy waking up to find that his crayons have abandoned him, leaving behind notes to explain why. Some were upset they weren’t used enough, others that they’d been left behind to melt together in the hot sun. It's a delightful and hilarious romp through the life of crayons, an idea I’d never considered. I’ve probably read it a hundred times to our three kids over the years. It changed the way I thought about kids books, and raised the bar for every one I’ve read since.
Trying to Clear It
While my bar for kids book is set pretty high, Ginger Hubbard and Al Roland have gone out and cleared it with Chloe and the Closet of Secrets, half of a double entry in New Growth Press’ new Teaching Children to Use Their Words Wisely series. It’s a book about lying, and it all begins with a brilliant idea. What if the lies we told manifested cute, but problematic, little monsters that grew and grew the longer we held on to the lie?
The story begins with Chloe getting a wake up call from her dad. He wants her out of bed and getting ready to go, but she’s a normal “just five more minutes” kid. Instead of listening, she tells a quick lie that she’s up and rolls over for more sleep. Immediately, she feels a tiny, fluffy little monster wriggling around her feet under the covers. As the story rolls on, the lies continue to pile up, and more fluffs along with them. Chloe decides to hide them all in her closet instead of dealing with them.
“My sins were all covered. Jesus took all my bad. Because of his grace, I don’t have to stay sad.”
Later Chloe returns to her room to discover that the fluffs stocked away in her closet have been growing. The closet can hardly contain them anymore. She doubles up the security with a chair and heads down to dinner with her family. Before dinner, her father begins to pray, asking forgiveness because he’d lied at work the day before. His modeling of recognizing his sin and asking for forgiveness prompt Chloe to invite the family up to her room to share her sins with her family as well.
As she begins to confess, the fluffs unravel and start to disappear. She’s left to walk through the change going on in her heart. “My sins were all covered. Jesus took all my bad. Because of his grace, I don’t have to stay sad.”
Going For Gold
I love the wisdom this little books pours into kids. It makes it clear that lying is a sin. What starts as a small, seemingly insignificant lie, can grow, fester, and ultimately become something unwieldy. The image of the fluffs popping out and then growing is a brilliant way to demonstrate this reality to little ones. While I’m not threatening my five-year-old with the possibility of his room being overrun with fluffs (though maybe I should), it’s a helpful way for him to understand how lying can quickly get out of control.
“The image of the fluffs popping out and then growing is a brilliant way to demonstrate this reality to little ones.”
The fact that Chloe’s father is also modeling what confession of sin and repentance look like, even in a simple dinner prayer, is wonderful. What a great way to demonstrate to parents how simple confession can be, and how helpful it is for kids to see their parents showing them how to live into their faith.
The story itself is written in rhymes, which makes the whole experience fun and engaging for kids. Our youngest had a ball guessing the rhyming word at the end of each couplet as we went. Veronika Kotyk does a great job illustrating throughout as well. She fills each page with movement, bright colors, and plenty of detail to help kids engage with Chloe’s world.
Finally, after the story, there’s a helpful guide outlining the problem with lying and some biblical support for why it’s important to be honest. It also highlights some practical advice on helping your kids tell the truth and confess their sin, along with some passages to read and questions to dive into together. Both are great resources for parents to press into for a couple minutes after some bedtime reading.
Sticking the Landing
One smaller-than-a-fluff sized quibble I need to mention. The story wraps up pretty quickly without Chloe facing any real consequence for her string of lies. It would’ve also been nice to see her parents talk through some of the discipline that inevitably comes when parents are lied to and disobeyed. But it’s also not super fun to rhyme sections of parents taking away tablets or scheduling some extra chores. At the end of the day, there’s plenty of room to talk through that with your own kids in the post-story discussion.
On the whole, this book is spectacular. It teaches about a situation most kids find themselves in at a young age, and engages without being unrealistic or preachy. It’s fun to read, and a treat to look at. Chloe and her fluffs would be a great addition to a nightstand of Sunday School classroom bookshelf.