Just in Case
Grade 1-3–Viorst's talent for voicing childhood anxieties is evident once again. Charlie likes to be ready for any emergency, so he makes outlandish preparations for whatever might befall him. If someone bossy and mean instead of his favorite sitter comes, he'll make her not glad by washing his feet in the toilet bowl and painting his face a most horrible shade of green. Just in case all the food stores close, he makes a hundred and seventeen peanut-butter sandwiches and stockpiles goodies for everyone in the family. Readers will enjoy his antics to protect himself from being swooped up by a bird on the way to school or escaping a mermaid who might grab his big toe. And they will relish the special surprise for which Charlie is completely unprepared. In full-page and vignette mixed-media cartoon illustrations, Bluthenthal depicts a determined kid, accompanied by his ever-faithful dog, as he goes about his preparations. One hilarious spread shows the boy outstretched in exhaustion after packing food to last through to the middle of May. Along with Kevin Henkes'sWemberly Worried(HarperCollins, 2000) and Helen Lester'sSomething Might Happen(Houghton, 2003), this book offers some reassurance to readers preoccupied with their fears.–Marianne Saccardi, Norwalk Community College, CTCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.--This text refers to theHardcoveredition.