Written and illustrated by Holly
Hobbie. Little, Brown. Let it Snow is billed as the final
book in the Toot and Puddle series. (The first three books in
this charming but uneven series were enthusiastically reviewed
in these pages. After that, the illustrations remained captivating
and highly accomplished, but the books' plots and character consistency
weakened.) Happily, Let it Snow marks a return to the
series' best moments: while wishing for a snowy holiday, Toot
and Puddle work on homemade presents for each other. Puddle's
sweet young cousin Opal shares in their celebration. Let's hope
for Toot and Puddle's return to the bookshelves in the future.
Recommended. (All ages.)
This Is Just to Say: Poems of Apology and Forgiveness
By Joyce Sidman. Illus. by Pamela Zagarenski. Houghton Mifflin. This Is Just to Say is a collection of apology poems and their responses from students and other people associated with Mrs. Ruth Merz's fictional sixth-grade class at Florence Scribner School. It's also a much better book, lively and light in touch while saying something substative, than its premise might initially suggest. Sixth-grader Anthony K. notes in his introduction that the collection's title is borrowed from William Carlos Williams's well-known poem of that name; but of more interest to regular readers here might be an author's endnote thanking the late Kenneth Koch, a very early teacher of poetry in the New York City public schools, whose Wishes, Lies, and Dreams (1970) chronicling that happy experience is still in print today.
Each poem of apology is answered in one way or another by someone else, not necessarily the person to whom it was addressed. The entire book is good: Bao Vang's apology to the stone statue of the school's founder (replied to by student Daron, writing for Florence P. Scribner), student Carmen's apology for laughing at Mrs. Merz's dress (replied to by Mrs. Merz), Mrs. Merz's mother's forgiveness of her daughter for breaking a glass trinket as a child, and Bao Vang's forgiveness of her friend Mai Lee, are especially memorable.
Pamela Zagarenski's minimal, mixed-media
illustrations are an example of this style that works well (many
don't). Recommended. (Ages 10-adult.)
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