I was sent a copy of the children’s book StinkyKids and the Runaway Scissors almost a year ago by the story’s creator Britt Menzies and it is I who have been a Stinker. Somehow this review got lost in the shuffle of new house, new baby and much, much more. So, the other night Eva wanted a book read to her before bed and I went to her bookshelf and selected StinkyKids and the Runaway Scissors. She was delighted to have me read the story to her once again.

The StinkyKids are a group of good little kids who can get into a bit of mischief out of innocent curiosity and are therefore referred to as Little Stinkers. The name StinkyKids is explained fully on the StinkyKids Site in the spot called Story Behind the Brand. The StinkyKids also have a motto which is “Always be a Leader of Good.” And what that means is that even if you are a little stinker you can make right choices in life and be a Leader of Good. The company exemplifies their own motto in that they give back 10% of their profits to help Books, Bears, Bonnets, Inc. (www.booksbearsbonnets.org), a charity founded in honor of Britt’s aunt who died from uterine cancer.

The book was a nice one with colorful illustrations and a cute cast of characters. One little girl, Britt, has a problem. She has gum stuck in her hair and she decides not to tell her parents about it so that she can still have a playdate with three of her friends. The friends are playing hair salon (as luck would have it) and they come up with different ideas on how to get the gum out of Britt’s hair.

Ultimately her hair gets cut. I can completely relate to this story because as a little kid I got it in my head a day or so before a family portrait that I wanted to be a barber and I cut my baby sister’s hair. She is also a redhead like Britt.

The kids finally come clean and realize that it was much more fun to make a mess than to clean it up but it could have all been avoided had they gone to a parent for help in the first place.

At the back of the book there are a bunch of questions that you can ask your kids to stimulate discussion about making right choices. I like that there is an interactive feature like this.

In all, the book was cute with a good message, the StinkyKids were well drawn and cute. We even received a plush doll of StinkyKid Jen. Eva liked that one right way because she looked like Eva.

Disclosure: I received the StinkyKids book and plush toy to review. Opinions about them are 100% my own.