A Box Full of Kittens
Manzano, who plays "Maria" onSesame Street,follows up her first picture book,No Dogs Allowed(2004), with another story centered on a Puerto Rican neighborhood in the Bronx. This time, the setting is the 1950s, and little Ruthie is obsessed with the TV character of Superman, hoping to become a superhero herself. Opportunity arrives when she is sent to sit with her very pregnant, near-delivery aunt. Her aunt's cravings for sweets send Ruthie leaping and bounding up and down stairs, like the superhero of her dreams. But on her the last trip to the bodega, Ruthie discovers three kittens and becomes completely entranced, ignoring her aunt's calls, the cop on the radio, and the siren, until she realizes an ambulance has come for her aunt, who is in labor. Ruthie feels like a failure until her aunt honors her at the baby's welcoming party. Phelan's watercolors give verve and bounce to this charming story.Connie FletcherCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved