BROWNIE & PEARL GRAB A BITE
From the Brownie & Pearl series
by Cynthia Rylant & illustrated by Brian Biggs
In this latest installment of Rylant and Biggs’ picture-book series, Brownie and Pearl do lunch and invite readers to join in the fun.
Fans of this perfect preschool fare will once again delight in the series’ playful treatment of the everyday activities. Here, the pair feels a bit peckish and heads to the kitchen for stringy cheese, apples, crackers and milk. Pearl is a kitty who plays with her food—rolling the apples and batting the string cheese about like so much yarn. Meanwhile, “Brownie likes to bite her saltines into shapes,” and she nibbles one cracker into the letter P for Pearl. Biggs’ boldly colored, digital art is presented in clean, clear compositions that make good use of white space (and minimal backgrounds in some scenes) to highlight the playful action of the story rather than the domestic setting. The use of white, however, is perhaps most effective in the pleasing final spread showing both friends licking off thick milk mustaches. The short, carefully crafted sentence can also support beginning readers in their efforts to decode text.
A satisfying addition to a consistently strong series. Bon appetit. (Picture book/early reader 3-6)