ANNIE AND SIMON

Talkative, inquisitive preschooler Annie and her much-older brother Simon are a good team. Annie wants to be a hairdresser, and Simon has hair in need of dressing. Annie wants to see a loon, and Simon can pilot a canoe. Annie desperately wants a rain shower, and Simon figures out how to give her one. Even after a disagreement over Annie’s “special drink” concoction, the two remain best friends as well as siblings. O’Neill based the characters on her own daughter and stepsons, and the basis in fact shines through; Annie and Simon’s four stories collected here will ring true for most newly independent readers. The watercolor illustrations of the two and their bark-full dog Hazel are full of humor and detail. Each story also has a touch of nature information. O’Neill’s first solo effort in some years is well worth adding to the first-chapter-book collection. (Fiction. 5-7)