And Then…

PreS-Gr 1—Birthdays are supposed to celebrate a new year of someone's life; however, those with an adorable younger sibling can tell you that the attention doesn't always fall where it's supposed to. In this quirky tale, a frustrated older sister takes revenge on her attention-grabbing baby brother by spinning a whimsical yarn, reimagining her brother as a gigantic, stinky, slimy squid. The book is written in the voice and vocabulary of a young child, and the tone of the run-on sentences and fantastical story line will be familiar to parents and children's librarians. As the squid becomes sick, the story takes a turn from the devious to the concerned, leaving readers with a very satisfying ending about the true relationship between older and younger siblings. This may prove to be a challenging read-aloud, however, as the text takes a wildly curving path, veering horizontally, vertically, diagonally, and occasionally upside down in a circle. The fine line drawings with watercolor accents keep the backgrounds to a minimum and the focus on the narrator.