WHEN MARCUS MOORE MOVED IN
by Rebecca Bond & illustrated by Rebecca Bond
Although Marcus Moore’s moving day begins lonely and empty; it closes with a new best friend found on a bustling block. While Bond’s barely there prose supplies a bouncy rhythm and mood, the acrylic illustrations are the key to telling the story and portraying the gamut of moving day emotions. The art is dominated by slate-colored stoops and sidewalks, and littered with the lively details of the urban setting—a crowded page often faced with a nearly blank one—only a lonely Marcus set in the middle of all that white space. Then a noisy girl knocks on his cardboard house, they wait out a summer storm together, and finally off they go, “Ka-LOMP!” “Ker-UNCH!” and “BOOM-BA-DEE!! BOOM!” The overall tone is upbeat, and the depiction of imaginative play a treat. In addition to relating the joy of discovering a new playmate, the work validates the anxiety of children being displaced by a move (despite the glossy ending), making it doubly worthwhile. (Picture book. 4-6)