Henry's First-Moon Birthday - Hardcover

Lenore Look is the author of Ruby Lu, Brave and True, an ALA Notable Book; Love As Strong As Ginger, illustrated by Caldecott Honor artist Stephen T. Johnson; and Henry's First-Moon Birthday, illustrated by Yumi Heo. She lives in Randolph, New Jersey.

Ages 4-8. "Jen, Jenny, but never Jennifer. . . aka older sister" has been in charge ever since her mother had a baby. Her grandmother, Gnin Gnin, has helped out, and now it's time for baby Henry's first-moon birthday party. The celebration is a Chinese tradition, but the family's ethnicity is very subtly portrayed; the emphasis is really on the family story. Jen introduces each step as she helps Gnin Gnin prepare for the party: "This is our kitchen, all ready for us to cook," she says, and, as they write calligraphy messages on good luck cloth, "This is ink, the real stuff." Jen bathes until she's "clean as celery," and greets the relatives in a new dress. When the party begins, Henry gets all the attention, and Jen shows the normal resentment: "I pinch him when no one's looking." It's hard to finally say good-bye to Gnin Gnin, with whom Jen is "a pair, like favorite shoes, side by side." But Jen comes around by book's end, when, glowing and proud, she finds that with Henry, she's forms a new pair, "like matching socks." The words are clear and basic as well as creative (Dad's face is "quillery," for example), and Jen's chatty narration infuses the book with the cozy immediacy that's beautifully picked up in Heo's swirling paint-and-paper collages. Small bowls of noodles, pincushions, armchairs, the clock's numbers, and Chinese dragons riot around each scene, enlarging the story's activity into a joyful, domestic cacophony. Just right for those with new siblings, this will draw most young ones into a delicious blend of warmth and chaos. Gillian Engberg
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved