Red Ribbon/With Cassette and Ribbon

A ground-breaking package--which contains a red ribbon and instructions on how to wear it--that delicately explores the subject of AIDS. When a little girl becomes concerned about her neighbor's failing health, her mother buys her a red ribbon and explains the ribbon's meaning. The song is a simple statement of a child's concern, regret and hope. Full color.

PreSchool-Grade 3-Lyrics to a song (cassette included) whose low-key melody matches the somber subject matter. Eight-year-old Jenny is surprised and saddened by her upstairs neighbor's rapid decline in health and wonders what is wrong. (Apparently he has AIDS, but the illness is never mentioned in the text.) Her mother offers no explanations but gives her a red ribbon. When she ties it in her hair, the woman explains how to wear it pinned to her clothing. "She says the ribbon means 'I care.' " The brief text is surrounded by ample white space. Greene's full-page representational paintings juxtapose the normal, happy occurrences of the girl's life-her birthday and Christmas-with the sober reality of her neighbor's imminent death. In a brief note, offered with selected titles on AIDS and instructions for wearing a red ribbon, the author expresses the hope that the book will inspire questions "...that deserve to be answered." But children will find no answers here. For a more compelling treatment of the topic, try Patricia Quinlan's Tiger Flowers (Dial, 1994).?Marianne Saccardi, Norwalk Community-Technical College, CT
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A sober subject and bouncy tune make a curious pairing in this book-and-cassette package from singer/songwriter Weeks (Crocodile Smile; Follow the Moon). Written in the voice of eight-year-old Jenny, the song addresses a neighbor suffering from AIDS. The pivotal question here ("My name is Jenny-I talk a lot./ I watch the neighbors hurrying past./ What kind of sickness have you got/ That made you get so old so fast?") is never answered directly. Rather, Jenny's mother gives her a red ribbon and shows her how to fold it and pin it on her shirt; a red ribbon is also included in this package. Whenever the child asks after their ill neighbor, Mama shakes her head and says, "There's nothing they can do." But, as the illustrations reveal, Jenny wraps up her treasures (a seashell, feathers, a lucky penny), delivers them to the man's door and vows that she will wear her ribbon each day, "And I'll think of you." Greene's (Just My Dad & Me) affecting, realistic paintings help amplify Weeks's vague lyrics, but adults will clearly have to provide some explanations. For a more thoughtful picture book about AIDS, see Leslea Newman's Too Far Away to Touch (Children's Forecasts, Feb. 6). Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.