PAUL NEEDS SPECS

Sally’s brother Paul needs glasses—perhaps the effect of these riotously colored illustrations. Sally explains how Paul’s vision has become progressively blurrier until a trip to the eye doctor reveals he needs spectacles. Now she’s sneaking up on Paul to show off his new glasses to her readers. Sally’s a teasing sister, but she’s confident that Paul looks good in his specs. Distorted images depict the world from Paul’s point of view: blurry before the new specs, contorted or goofily monstrous while the doctor experiments with different prescriptions, and simply surreal while Paul becomes accustomed to his newly adjusted vision. Colored, stretched, and oddly formatted text illustrates Sally’s tone, but to such excess that it weakens the prose’s never-powerful flow. Bright and energetic, but that’s about it. (Picture book. 5-8)