UNCLE BOBBY’S WEDDING

A modest, affable look at jealousy and reassurance. Chloe’s very attached to her uncle; they take walks together, go rowing on the river and “Once they even climbed to the top of a lighthouse.” But suddenly, at a family picnic, Uncle Bobby announces that he’s getting married. Mama whoops and hugs; Daddy shakes hands; everyone’s overjoyed—except Chloe. “I . . . don’t think you should get married. You have ME!” Jamie, the fiancé, must win her over. In an ice-cream parlor after a ballet, he imitates the dancers until “Chloe laughed so hard, she got soda up her nose.” Jamie’s delicate yet hilarious ballet position is definitely endearing. Brannen’s pencil-and-watercolor guinea pigs, the males dressed à la Donald Duck (shirts, no pants), are pleasant and unassuming. Humor comes secondary to Chloe’s fear of displacement, but the fact of two men marrying is a refreshing nonissue here. At the festive wedding, Chloe declares, “I planned it all from the beginning,” as she realizes that she isn’t losing an uncle, she’s gaining one. (Picture book. 2-6)