STUART’S CAPE

Zany, naïve sketches complement a sure-fire winner. Stuart is about to enter third grade in his new town of Punbury. Is he worried? You betcha. “What if there were man-eating spiders in his new bedroom closet? Or a man eating spiders? What if he got lost? What if no one wanted to be his friend?” While waiting anxiously for school to begin, Stuart decides he wants to have an adventure and, in order to do so, he needs a cape. Ever ingenious, he fashions one out of ties and staples, adding a purple sock for a secret pocket. Voilà! The cape is just the thing for inviting adventures of all kinds: a dinosaur, horse, and a gorilla teach him how to play pretend; Aunt Bubbles’s angel food cake allows him to fly; a catapulted pound cake brings him to earth again; and he finds his soul mate in the person of a garbage man who had been temporarily turned into a cat. The wackiness prevails, right until it is time for Stuart to start school. Pennypacker’s obvious plays on words are perfect for young readers just beginning to read chapter books. Ample white space, generous font, familiar vocabulary, Matje’s (A Pig Named Perrier, p. 428, etc.) frequent goofy illustrations, and over-the-top situations will leave young readers wishing they had a magic cape. Readers who like Captain Underpants have a new choice, one that will make them howl and will not make their parents squirm. (Fiction. 6-10)