Stories featuring "odd couples" can be fun for kids. Children enjoy the contrasting characters of these special friendships and learn lessons about the value of teamwork. This new book about Gruntly, an artistic little mouse, and Iggy, his frog friend who is a country preacher, is wonderfully quirky and rich. These friends share a common interest in craft-making, although their subjects are different indeed. Gruntly has a penchant for creating cheese sculptures of toes, while Iggy uses his insect leftovers to build wind chimes. 

While Gruntly is trying to come up with an original new idea for his entry in the upcoming Prairie Cheese Carvers' Contest, Iggy is looking for a way to handle his very smelly socks. A string of events ties these two independent quests together in hilarious ways--and towards a very satisfying conclusion. 

The computer-generated 3D illustrations are delightfully intriguing, and the story is infused with the perfect amount of quirkiness and charm to appeal to both kids and their parents. The language used is fun and unique-- for example, "after frumping them back up to Gruntly's room, he slopped the drip-droppy socks into Gruntly's machine". Our testers were smiling throughout. This is a fantastic book for caregivers and children to share together.

Co-written and co-illustrated by Bryan Ballinger and Keith Lango, both members of the Big Idea Productions (VeggieTales) team. This hardcover edition is approximately $14.99 US.