Try Again Sally Jane (A Quality Time Book)

Sally Jane's attempts at roller skating are failures until animal friends encourage her to try again until she succeeds

PreSchool-Grade 2Ashby's illustrations, with colorful washes, soft lines, humor, and exotic animal characters, lead browsers to expect an equally imaginative text. Unfortunately, the story of Sally Jane's frustration over learning to roller skate, and the attempts of four-legged (and no-legged!) passersby to help her, is not up to the standard of the illustrations. Each animal has essentially the same lines as the one before it, making the dialogue flat, repetitious, and a little strident. On almost every page some words are printed in bold type for emphasis, a practice that becomes intrusive and irritating. The ending is equally flat. After the litany of ``You think you've got problems,'' Sally Jane, in just one further attempt, is suddenly an expert skater. Further, one picture of Sally Jane over her head in the village pond is unnecessarily frightening to small children. We've come to expect really wonderful picture books from Australia, but this isn't one of them.Barbara Hutcheson, Greater Victoria Public Library, B.C., Canada
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