THE APRON

As an eight-year-old boy, Carle (Today is Monday, 1993, etc.) spent two vacation days with his Aunt Elizabeth and Uncle Adam. Uncle Adam was a plasterer and wore a great big white apron that young Eric coveted, so Aunt Elizabeth made him a smaller version of his very own. Wearing his new apron, Eric went to work with his uncle and helped him plaster the chimney of a house. Eric was a "good helper." Carle writes a letter at the end of the book explaining the autobiographical events more fully, but the story here is clearly secondary to Carle's splendid signature tissue-paper collages (the Fernand Léger-inspired laborer is especially good). The story itself has people saying "thank you" and men wearing aprons—for the PC-inclined—but otherwise has little to offer. The included apron is, of course, pure kitsch. Magnificent illustrations, the story is filler. (Nonfiction/Picture book. 5+)