I Wasn't Invited to the Birthday

PreS-Gr 2—This work aims to help children feel better about not being left out. As the school day ends, kids with big smiles can be seen leaving the building. They've been invited to a birthday party. All except for Mark, though he soon finds that he's not alone. Yuna has also been left out. Suddenly another boy comes running and tells them they must climb to the top of the tree, fast. Improbably, the sea comes rushing between the city buildings, bringing along a whale wearing a tiny hat. The whale invites them to hop on his back and sets off, picking up other children along the way. The only condition is that they have not been invited to a birthday party. Eventually they arrive at a village at the top of a mountain where animals dressed in clothes are celebrating a fete—and (yes!) it is not a birthday party. Just to make sure the message is clear, the author—through a tiger—explains to the children, "You can't always go to all the parties. But this doesn't mean that we should be sad and we shouldn't enjoy ourselves." When the sun begins to set, the whale returns the children to their homes. At nightfall "they can hear the laughter of all those children who were not invited to a birthday party." The watercolor and pencil illustrations are whimsical and charming but are not enough to compensate for a moral conveyed with a heavy hand within a story that is somewhat bewildering rather than reassuring. This title is available in both the original Spanish and an English translation.