Princess Penelope Takes Charge
PreSchool-Grade 2–Princess Penelope, an only child who likes to wear a crown, has everything she wants except a younger sibling. When her parents tell her they are expecting a baby, she is convinced that she will finally have a sister. Then Dexter arrives, and she refuses to have anything to do with him. Fortunately, her patient parents allow her to come to terms with the changes in her own way and time. One day, she notices that her brother has hair, and she can't wait to play with it. From this point on, she enjoys her position as big sister. The energetic cartoons are done in washed-out watercolors with heavy ink lines. Pink bubbles define Penelope's imaginary world: all of the objects and people inside take on a royal appearance (e.g., her green shirt becomes a fancy brocade gown and her chair looks like a throne). Brighter colors dominate this pretend realm, while everything outside of it is more monochromatic and definitely less exciting. The last illustration shows Penelope in her imaginary world gazing into Dexter's crib where he sleeps wearing a crown and surrounded by his own blue bubble. While not as charming as Kevin Henkes'sJulius, the Baby of the World(HarperCollins, 1990), Mack's tale can be used to deepen new-baby collections.–Linda Staskus, Parma Regional Library, OHCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.