Mabel Ran Away With the Toys - Softcover

Jan Wahl is the author of nearly one hundred books for young readers, including PLEASANT FIELDMOUSE, THE ART COLLECTOR and CANDY SHOP. He lives in Toledo, Ohio.

PreSchool-Grade 2-Mabel lives with her parents and three stuffed animals. The small, happy family goes to the beach, horseback riding, and to the zoo. Then, with a turn of a page, the girl's mother goes to the hospital and brings home a new baby, who wakes Mabel and her animal friends at night with his crying. Next morning, she decides to move into the backyard playhouse, where she has complete peace and quiet-until a frightening storm blows in, and her thoughts return to the comfort of home and concern for the baby, who "doesn't know about rain." The large and richly colored illustrations, rendered in pen and ink and watercolors, humorously follow the text. However, there is little physical indication of the mother's pregnancy, and the baby's arrival comes as a complete surprise. It seems odd that the parents never introduce the idea of a new sibling to their child as they do in Martha Alexander's When the New Baby Comes I'm Moving Out (Dutton, 1992) or Dorothy Corey's Will There Be a Lap for Me? (Albert Whitman, 1992). Still, this is an adequate starting point on this subject.
Elizabeth Maggio, Palos Verdes Library District, Rolling Hills Estates, CA
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