Just My Size - Hardcover

Kindergarten-Grade 2-- A little girl wears her new coat everywhere--until she outgrows it. Over the years, it is transformed from a coat to a jacket and scarf, to a vest and cap, to a knapsack, and, finally, to a coat and sleeping bag for her doll. The themes of thrift, resourcefulness, and sentimental attachment are sustained throughout, but the book is marred by a choppy narrative, dated usage, and a chilliness suggested by the faceless "they." Several incongruities in text and illustrations are also in evidence. It is unlikely that one would wear the same coat for ice skating and tennis. Assuming the skimpy vest could be turned into a knapsack, a young girl who stuffed it with books and pens and papers and who is even depicted mountain climbing with it on her back would not be particularly interested in its final incarnation. The implied passage of time in the text has no suggestion of a slow, steady maturation of the child in the pictures. The quality of the illustrations is disappointing; they are wooden and unappealing, and the colors are muddy. A good idea that doesn't live up to its potential.
- Marie Orlando, Suffolk Cooperative Library System, Bellport, NY
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.