SOMETHING ABOUT HENSLEY’S

Hensley’s is not an ordinary store. No matter what a customer needs—even if he or she doesn’t know what it is—Old John, the owner, has it somewhere. When Molly and Kate move to town with their mother, they wander in and are presented with the ideal candy. They visit often, and Kate confides that she can’t get a cat because of her sister’s allergies. Old John suspects there’s more to the story, and he’s proven right when Molly has an asthma attack, and Kate and Molly’s mother can’t pay the doctor’s bill. But Hensley’s always has what a customer needs, even a way to improve the family’s finances and the means for the girls to adopt a pet. Polacco’s story is sweet and comforting, and her trademark pen-and-marker illustrations capture the feeling of a general store still hanging on in middle America (Hensley’s actually exists). While in reality such a story may not end so perfectly, readers will be happy to see that the bubble that encloses Hensley’s does not burst. (Picture book. 5-8)