I’M STILL SCARED

These brilliant, seemingly artless but carefully crafted books of the famed writer-illustrator’s life work on so many levels. They are straightforward enough for children beginning to master chapter books; they are utterly charming and believable; they answer the questions young readers would ask themselves, and they are illustrated with dePaola’s warmly reassuring pictures and hand-printed notes from his diary. Chapter One opens on Sunday night, December 7, 1941. Readers see the attack on Pearl Harbor from the point of view of a second grader, what his parents and teachers told him—and what they didn’t. Blackout curtains are made for the house at 26 Fairmont Avenue in Meriden, Conn.; there are air raid drills at school and at home; and an older kid tells Tomie he is an “ENEMY,” because his name is Italian. But there is Christmas, and dancing school and Dumbo, the new Walt Disney movie. A slice of real life, true in its history and emotional resonance. (Autobiography. 7-10)