PEPITA PACKS UP/PEPITA EMPACA

On moving day, Pepita does not want to say goodbye to her friends and neighbors because doing so makes her cry. She uses their suggestions instead—“I’ll be seeing you,” “Go with God,” “Until tomorrow.” But faced with her best friend Sonya’s tears, Pepita cries too. Lachtman’s text combines a traumatic event—moving to a new neighborhood—with the comfort of loving family and neighbors and the pleasure of meeting a new friend. Pepita’s last visits combine predictability with variety as each person suggests a different way of not saying goodbye. DeLange’s full-page illustrations combine black outlines with pastel sweeps of color for vivid, almost two-dimensional scenes in which the slightly rounded people in some ways resemble dolls. They face English and Spanish texts in large, easy-to-read print. The Spanish translation is adept, in some places reading even more fluidly than the English original. While not an essential purchase, Pepita’s latest adventure will be welcome in libraries where the earlier books are popular and those in which more bilingual titles are necessary. (Picture book. 4-8)