School Library Journal Review

PreS-Gr 1 A limited vocabulary of around 50 words is used in both of these stories. Halloween Party shows costumed children at a party accompanied by a text that includes sentences such as, ``There will be cake. M-m-m, good! '' The brightly colored ink and watercolor illustrations are competent but not interesting enough to overcome the dull text. In Umbrella Parade , a group of young animals goes for a walk on a rainy day. The text stresses the color of the umbrellas and ends with the animals saying, ``We can have an umbrella parade! Drip, drip, drip!'' The illustrations are reminiscent of greeting cards for children. Neither book has a plot, and most children will be completely bored by them. Among others, Anne Rockwell demonstrated in Thump Thump Thump! (Dutton, 1981) that it is possible to use repetition of a controlled vocabulary without sacrificing interest or suspense. Jean Hammond Zimmerman, Willett School Library, South River, N.J. (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.