Big Birthday

K-Gr 2—Annabelle is back, and she is tired of having her birthday at the zoo. This year she wants something completely different, so she begs to have a party on the Moon. After some initial hesitation, her parents hire an astronaut and rent a rocket ship, and the partygoers are on their way. But things do not go quite as Annabelle imagined. Her friends get bored on the long trip as their games are too hard to play in zero gravity. Once on the Moon, the hungry guests can't eat the cake because of their helmets, and it gets covered in moondust. After opening her presents, Annabelle tries on her favorite gift, a dress, but it rips going over her spacesuit. "'My birthday,' she cried, 'has become a big mess. I'm not having fun and neither are my guests!'" As they head home, Annabelle envisions next year's party—a trip to the backyard in a homemade purple pirate ship. Clifton-Brown's use of color, texture, shadow, and spot-on facial expressions with a bit of mixed-media collage thrown in is a delightful partner to the text. Varying fonts and text placement within the illustrations add a nice touch to the story. Hosford's rhyming text is fun to read, and kids will enjoy hearing about a great idea gone wrong.—Catherine Callegari, Gay-Kimball Library, Troy, NH