PROBUDITI!

A rare outing from Van Allsburg, featuring as smooth a case of payback as ever was. Calvin returns from watching a hypnotist’s act determined to visit yet another torment on his beleaguered little sister, Trudy, by hypnotizing her. His delight at seeing her barking loudly and capering about like a dog changes to dismay, however, when she fails to snap out of it on command, and then to deep gloom when his frantic efforts to waken her earn him supper-less exile to his room. With sepia-toned, characteristic photorealism, Van Allsburg views his African-American characters from low angles and zeroes in on their animated faces. Trudy-as-a-dog is not only particularly hilarious, with glassy eyes and hanging tongue, but totally convincing, too—until, that is, she makes a sly remark at the end. Smaller siblings everywhere will applaud the elegant way she turns the tables on her big brother. (Picture book. 6-8)