PICTURE BOOK REVIEW : Claydate: A Playdate with the Claymates by Dev Petty & Lauren Eldridge

 

CLAYDATE:

A Playdate with the Claymates

written by Dev Petty, illustrated by Lauren Eldridge

Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2026

ISBN:9780316564540

Available April 7, 2026

Source: eARC from publisher for review (Thanks!)

Ages 4-8

All opinions expressed are solely my own.

Book cover & summary provided by the publisher through Goodreads.com.

ABOUT THE BOOK

When two clay friends decide to sculpt a unicorn-dragon and a potato-knight and try to tell an epic story with them, nothing goes quite how they planned. Unicorn-dragon isn't fearsome at all, and potato-knight keeps getting squished! Can the claymates work together to save their story and remember that a playdate doesn’t have to be perfect to be plenty of fun? Anything can happen in this laugh-out-loud adventure that celebrates friendship, storytelling, and endless creativity.

REVIEW

As a huge fan of the first book, Claymates, I was thrilled to have the chance to read the sequel. In this follow-up that highlights the joy (and frustration) to be found in storytelling play, the two original blobs of clay take center stage once again. While the gray blob naps, the brown blob sets to work creating a character of his own, which, after several modifications ends up being a unicorn-dragon (with contributions from the creature itself). The gray blob decides to create his own character (with lots of interference from his brown friend). But it turns out that brown is better at the creation process which leads gray to some extreme frustration. His knight ends up looking more like a potato, and his sword looks suspiciously like a banana. After some apologies, the two friends get back to work with Sir Mashed Potato, the knight. But what will happen when the characters themselves decide to change the story the original blobs developed? As in the first book, the text makes for an entertaining read with the whole thing presented in dialogue with the gray blob's words in black and the brown blob's words in brown. The text is presented in what appears to be ripped strips and placed around the outside of the photographs. The photographs though make the story leap off the page. The number of changes and photographs that had to be taken is mind-boggling. The number of panels varies from spread to spread with some pages containing one photograph and others containing up to fourteen panels. The small size of some of the photographs will make it difficult to share with a group (unless you share using an electronic copy that can be zoomed in on), but the book would be delightful to share one-on-one. Another remarkably stunning book both in creativity and theme. Themes related to friendship, sharing, and taking turns shine through without being didactic in any way. Highly recommended.