UMA WIMPLE CHARTS HER HOUSE

A young chart enthusiast finds one that tests her abilities.

Uma loves charts. She tabulates her family’s favorite pizza toppings (using a pie chart, of course); she examines which couples hold hands most often in the park (dogs are the outliers, because they don’t have hands); and she carefully creates her own food pyramid (with chicken fingers at the base). As Uma says: “A good chart should make you see the world in a new way.” When her teacher announces that the students’ next assignment is to make charts of their homes, Uma is ecstatic. But then, she gets nervous. “How can I chart something so big, so important, so complicated?!” She is stumped. She narrows her research down to one essential question: “What makes my house…housey?” Her family members offer many possibilities. But their thoughts only overwhelm Uma even more. How can she possibly make a chart that shows feelings and smells and sounds? Uma, master chart maker, must find a way. Uma’s hand-drawn charts of all kinds are scattered throughout, and various pictorial guides are explained on the endpapers. Readers will delight in looking closely and learning more about Uma’s quirky hobby. Uma’s family of six share the same light tan skin tone while her class (and male teacher of color) is racially diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally with 11-by-18-inch double-page spreads viewed at 22.5% of actual size.)

Not quite off the charts but offbeat enough for a lot of fun.