Best friends Iris and Walter eagerly look forward to their first sleepover. Iris has grand plans for the big night. When she shares her exciting news with her schoolmates, Iris blithely disregards cautionary tales of woe, determined that her first sleepover will not be marred by homesickness. Yet, when all the fun is done and it is time to settle down to sleep, Iris discovers that she misses the familiar comforts of home. An urgent whisper in Walter’s ear soon has Iris back within the warm embrace of her family. Guest has perfectly captured that unique moment in child development when a little one is precariously balanced on that fragile cusp between parent-dependent young childhood and the more emancipated older child. Everyone’s easy acceptance of Iris’s change of heart offers her all the support she needs; she goes to sleep in her own bed, confident that when the time comes, she will be ready to try another sleepover. Separated into four chapters, this is a manageable tale for beginning readers ready to move beyond simplistic chapter books. Davenier’s bright pen-and-ink illustrations capture the ebullience of Iris as she prances about in a frenzy of anticipation for the big event. Artful, haphazardly colored-in, and loosely drawn images convey an energy and vibrancy to the pictures. Readers will welcome this latest installment in the true-to-life stories of these charming friends. (Easy reader. 5-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2002
ISBN: 0-15-216487-1
Page Count: 44
Publisher: Gulliver/Harcourt
Review Posted Online: June 24, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2002
Give this child’s-eye view of a day at the beach with an attentive father high marks for coziness: “When your ball blows across the sand and into the ocean and starts to drift away, your daddy could say, Didn’t I tell you not to play too close to the waves? But he doesn’t. He wades out into the cold water. And he brings your ball back to the beach and plays roll and catch with you.” Alley depicts a moppet and her relaxed-looking dad (to all appearances a single parent) in informally drawn beach and domestic settings: playing together, snuggling up on the sofa and finally hugging each other goodnight. The third-person voice is a bit distancing, but it makes the togetherness less treacly, and Dad’s mix of love and competence is less insulting, to parents and children both, than Douglas Wood’s What Dads Can’t Do (2000), illus by Doug Cushman. (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: May 23, 2005
ISBN: 0-618-00361-4
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Clarion Books
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: May 1, 2005
A sweet iteration of the “Big Bad Wolf Mellows Out” theme. Here, an old wolf does some soul searching and then learns to like vegetable stew after a half-frozen lamb appears on his doorstep, falls asleep in his arms, then wakes to give him a kiss. “I can’t eat a lamb who needs me! I might get heartburn!” he concludes. Clad in striped leggings and a sleeveless pullover decorated with bands of evergreens, the wolf comes across as anything but dangerous, and the lamb looks like a human child in a fleecy overcoat. No dreams are likely to be disturbed by this book, but hardened members of the Oshkosh set might prefer the more credible predators and sense of threat in John Rocco’s Wolf! Wolf! (March 2007) or Delphine Perrot’s Big Bad Wolf and Me (2006). (Picture book. 5-7)
Pub Date: Sept. 1, 2007
ISBN: 978-1-58925-067-3
Page Count: 32
Publisher: Tiger Tales
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Aug. 1, 2007
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