Been Cool? The Cool Bean by Jory John

BEANSIDE ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Home of the Pods

All of a sudden, some beans are the really cool beans.

The Cool Beans are known all over school.

The rest of us are--HAS BEENS.

Oh, this Has Bean tries.

I wore sun glasses. I slicked my hair back.

But when it comes to being cool, copying the Cool Beans only makes you even more un-COOL.

And then things get worse for Has Bean. He drops his tray in the cafeteria. He falls off the slide. One day he gets caught daydreaming when the teacher calls on him. People laugh... How low can he go? He feels as limp as a canned green bean. He feels as squashed as a toddler's green peas. He feels smaller than a lentil.

But then one of the Cool Beans comes over and shows him his place on the page.

THEN SHE GAVE ME A WINK!

Just knowing someone has your back makes things cool in legume-land in Jory John's latest, The Cool Bean (Harper, 2019). Kids will readily recognize the coolness factor that begins in elementary school, giving this latest of John's little life lessons resonance with early graders. We can't all be COOL, but we can all be KIND, and with plenty of beanpod puns and Pete Oswald's comic illustrations, at least there can be peace in this pod. Kirkus Reviews says, "Cool beans, indeed!"