MR. GEORGE BAKER

A gentle tale of intergenerational and interracial friendship. Mr. George Baker is Harry’s 100-year-old (“no kidding”) neighbor, a drummer man (“some people say he’s famous”), who waits with Harry for the school bus. Together they munch chocolate candies on the porch; together they get on the bus. Harry and George are both learning to read, Harry with his peers, George in an adult education class down the hall: “. . . it’s hard,” thinks Harry. But “we can do it,” says George. Hest’s present-tense narration gets Harry’s voice just right, as he corrects his grammar in his head and takes George’s fame in stride. Muth’s soft watercolors play with perspective, the tall, thin black man and the short red-headed boy completely at ease with each other. There’s not much story here, just waiting for the bus, but the moment is captured sweetly, just in time for school. (Picture book. 5-8)