Olive and the Big Secret

PreS-Gr 2—Even before the title page, readers see little hearts flowing out of Molly's floppy ears with an onomatopoetic "sigh." The author gives away the secret, but leaves readers with a question. Who does the rabbit like? She whispers the name in Olive's ear, and the cat affirms wide-eyed, "I will never tell." The page layouts are without frames, but grounded horizontally on soft shadows or beautifully rendered on muted backgrounds, allowing the action to run like a relay race through the pages. The secret gets passed from cat to giraffe to badger to turtle, and so on, and readers can chuckle and waggle their fingers witnessing this blatant divulging, astutely expressed with only handfuls of words. Young children will be riveted by this masterfully paced, puppy-love drama, played out with an array of quirky animals in contemporary comic style. The measure of individuality is each character's ability to keep a secret. There is the gossipmonger, the one who does not care, the one who tries to keep a secret, and the one who doesn't. The graphics are bold and childlike, and the font size is large. When it is clear that someone blabbed, Molly goes straight to the source and confronts Olive, who is remorseful, at least for a moment. A delightful, surefire conversation starter on the do's and don'ts of secrets among friends.—Sara Lissa Paulson, American Sign Language and English Lower School, NY