Tag: Guapo’s Stories

Caramel reviews Guapo’s Great Rescue: Clay Finds a Forever Home by Janet Zappala and Wendy Perkins

Last week Caramel reviewed Guapo’s Giant Heart: The True Story of The Calf Who Kept Growing, a picture book written by Janet Zappala and Wendy Perkins, and illustrated by Lara Calleja. Today he is talking about a second book about Guapo and his friends: Guapo’s Great Rescue: Clay Finds a Forever Home, written and illustrated by the same team and published originally in 2023. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

The book bunnies were sent a review copy of the book.

Caramel reviews Guapo’s Great Rescue: Clay Finds a Forever Home, written by Janet Zappala and Wendy Perkins, and illustrated by Lara Calleja.
Caramel reviews Guapo’s Great Rescue: Clay Finds a Forever Home, written by Janet Zappala and Wendy Perkins, and illustrated by Lara Calleja.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, we have a second Guapo story today. 

Caramel: Yes we do. This is about a new animal joining the farm: a horse named Clay.

S: Let’s step back a bit. This book is about Guapo, a big steer in a rescue farm. We read and talked about the first book about his arrival to the farm.

C: Yes. In this book Guapo is all settled in but this time there is this new animal, Clay, who is joining them. But he is kind of distant and doesn’t want to play with the other animals. Guapo seems to understand that he is feeling lonely and scared, just like he did when he first arrived. So, eventually they make Clay realize they are friends, and the horse joins them. 

S: That is nice, isn’t it?

C: Yep. Kind of like Clay is rescued twice. And kind of like “and they lived happily ever after!”

S: Yes. But did you know that the real-life Guapo has moved to Wyoming? At least this article that is a couple years old is saying that they were planning to move him and his friends at the farm to a new ranch in Wyoming, because California is kind of hot for him. 

C: No, I didn’t know that! It is true that California can get warm sometimes. 

S: Then again there used to be all those neat cheese commercials about great cheese coming from happy cows and happy cows coming from California!

C: Yeah, I love those! They are really funny! Especially the one which says “Ooh, foot massage!” 

Caramel is reading Guapo’s Great Rescue: Clay Finds a Forever Home, written by Janet Zappala and Wendy Perkins, and illustrated by Lara Calleja.
Caramel is reading Guapo’s Great Rescue: Clay Finds a Forever Home, written by Janet Zappala and Wendy Perkins, and illustrated by Lara Calleja.

S: Okay, let us look at the book a bit more. So this one was written and illustrated by the same people from the first book. Did you notice that?

C: Yes! Guapo and his friends look exactly like they did in the first book. 

S: What did you think about the pictures?

C: As before they are colorful and realistic. And there are a lot of children in this book, they come and play with the animals at the farm. They also have a chicken, a rooster, a few other horses, a pig and so on. 

S: True. There are a lot of different animals on this farm! 

C: And there is a bunny in this story too! 

S: Yes, you are right! 

C: So there is this bunny who jumps out of a bush and scares Clay. As we all know, bunnies can be fierce! 

S: Really? Do you think so?

C: Of course! So this is a much better book than the first one! 

S: Alright! We do like bunnies of course. 

C: I mean, steers and chickens and goats are fine too. But of course, dragons are better. Then again, we have some time till we can review another book about dragons. 

S: I think that is correct, Caramel. Maybe this is a good time to wrap up this review?

C: Why not? 

S: So what do you want to tell our readers?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel enjoyed reading Guapo’s Great Rescue: Clay Finds a Forever Home, written by Janet Zappala and Wendy Perkins, and illustrated by Lara Calleja, and recommends it to all young bunnies who enjoy stories about other animals.
Caramel enjoyed reading Guapo’s Great Rescue: Clay Finds a Forever Home, written by Janet Zappala and Wendy Perkins, and illustrated by Lara Calleja, and recommends it to all young bunnies who enjoy stories about other animals.



Caramel reviews Guapo’s Giant Heart: The True Story of The Calf Who Kept Growing by Janet Zappala and Wendy Perkins

Today Caramel is talking to Sprinkles about Guapo’s Giant Heart: The True Story of The Calf Who Kept Growing, a picture book written by Janet Zappala and Wendy Perkins, illustrated by Lara Calleja, and published in 2022. As usual, Sprinkles is taking notes and asking questions.

The book bunnies were sent a review copy of the book.

Caramel reviews Guapo’s Giant Heart: The True Story of The Calf Who Kept Growing, written by Janet Zappala and Wendy Perkins, and illustrated by Lara Calleja.
Caramel reviews Guapo’s Giant Heart: The True Story of The Calf Who Kept Growing, written by Janet Zappala and Wendy Perkins, and illustrated by Lara Calleja.

Sprinkles: So Caramel, today we have a story about rescue animals. 

Caramel: Yes, we do, it is about a calf who starts out on a farm, but then a woman named Lynn comes and takes him from his mommy and siblings to her own farm. She names him Guapo. 

S: Yes, it seems like the calf and his siblings would be given away or sold, and Lynn took one for her farm because she had room for only one calf. A lot of animals are separated from their parents early in their lives. 

C: Yeah, but it is kind of unfair. I like living with my book bunnies family. And it would be sad to have to grow up without you all. 

S: Yeah, I am also glad you are growing up with all of us Caramel! But maybe the calf was born into a situation where they could not take care of him. We are lucky that we have enough resources to live as a family and feed ourselves. 

C: Yes, that is a very good thing.

S: Glad we agree! Okay, so let us get back to the book. Guapo grows up in Lynn’s farm, right?

C: Yes, until Lynn’s farm runs out of space. Then he is moved, again, to a new farm.

S: Yeah, he grows big, right? But he also makes friends on Lynn’s farm. 

C: Yep. He is basically a little calf growing up with a lot of other animal friends. It actually sounds like it could be fun growing up with a whole lot of different animal friends. Putting aside the part that he does not have his family with him anymore. 

S: Yes. I think we have to put that aside. 

C: Okay. 

Caramel is reading Guapo’s Giant Heart: The True Story of The Calf Who Kept Growing, written by Janet Zappala and Wendy Perkins, and illustrated by Lara Calleja.
Caramel is reading Guapo’s Giant Heart: The True Story of The Calf Who Kept Growing, written by Janet Zappala and Wendy Perkins, and illustrated by Lara Calleja.

S: So what happens next?

C: Then he moves to the new farm, but then he is all lonely again, because the animals in that farm don’t know him. All they see is a big bull. And so they are probably scared of him. 

S: Yeah, that is sad too. He is very different from them. But eventually he makes friends again, right? 

C: Yes! He is friendly, and at some point Lynn brings a little pot bellied pig that was Guapo’s friend from earlier, so the other animals in the new farm see that Guapo is kind and friendly and they eventually come around to being friendly with him too. 

S: So at the end of the book we learn that this story is inspired by a real rescue calf named Guapo who then became a big bull. Were you surprised to learn that?

C: Yeah, I did not know that there were farms where different kinds of animals lived together like that. Like I thought there could be a couple horses and a couple cows and seven chickens and so on. But in this farm that Guapo ends up in, almost all animals are one of a kind. I guess they are all rescue animals. Somehow they could not continue to live where they had been living, so this place and other places like it collect them and give them a home. 

S: Yeah, it is interesting, right?

C: Yup. And cool. Because all animals deserve a home. 

S: I agree, Caramel. What did you think about the illustrations?

C: It is a nice picture book, and the animals look very real. So I liked them.

S: Yeah, and it is not quite fiction, apparently, and we both learned some things about rescue farms. So that is also good, no?

C: Yep! 

S: So maybe this is a good time to wrap this up?

C: Sure! 

S: What do you want to tell our readers then?

C: Stay tuned for more book bunny reviews!

Caramel enjoyed reading Guapo’s Giant Heart: The True Story of The Calf Who Kept Growing, written by Janet Zappala and Wendy Perkins, and illustrated by Lara Calleja, and recommends it to all young bunnies who are curious about the life of real rescue animals.
Caramel enjoyed reading Guapo’s Giant Heart: The True Story of The Calf Who Kept Growing, written by Janet Zappala and Wendy Perkins, and illustrated by Lara Calleja, and recommends it to all young bunnies who are curious about the life of real rescue animals.