Loula and the Sister Recipe

PreS-Gr 1—Stuck with hellion triplet brothers who exclude her from their rowdy games, Loula dreams of having a sister who'd appreciate gentler pursuits. When she asks her parents for a new sibling, they hem and haw and tell her that "making a sister…it's like making a cake." According to them, the process requires the perfect ingredients—butterflies in the stomach, a candlelit supper, kisses and hugs, and a mama and papa. Encouraged, intrepid Loula ropes the family chauffeur into helping her acquire the necessary items. Her efforts pay off, though not quite in the way she expected. Instead of producing a sister, Loula's moonlit feast attracts a huge stray that, despite being a "mister," turns out to be the perfect companion for the little girl. Villeneuve's dainty ink lines awash with soft watercolors dance off the page, as exuberant as little Loula. Many small details, such as Loula tottering in her mother's heels across the verso or her pink toy cat, add extra humor and charm to this sweet and funny story. Though young readers might miss the joke behind the "sister recipe," they are sure to be amused by Loula's whimsical antics and relate to her need to find that perfect friend.—Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY