How Sissy Buttons Saved The Day

Introducing the incomparable Sissy Buttons -- a spunky new picture book heroine from a bestselling author.

Sissy Buttons is sassy, smart, and bossy, and can do almost anything. The only thing she's not good at doing are the things she doesn't want to do! After a tough day playing with her teddy bears in the garden, Sissy's mother asks her to clean up. Reluctant to do so, Sissy falls asleep instead. But in her dreams she finds herself in charge of a real teddy bears picnic. The bears are misbehaving, and unless she can persuade them to try a little harder, then everything will go horribly wrong. Sissy finally convinces the bears that they can do anything they want -- if only they try.

PreSchool-K-Like most young children, Sissy Buttons always feels a little too tired when it's time to clean up. Though her mother reminds her, in a singsong verse, that there is nothing she can't do if she'll "just try and try," the child is unconvinced. Her imagination takes her and her teddy bears on a frolicking picnic where roles are reversed; soon she is teaching them how to try and try. Bold and vibrant colors fill each page, but the pictures are flat and the moral is somewhat heavy-handed and contrived. Though not a must-have, some libraries may have a demand for stories with a message of persistence and patience.
Julie Joy, Winfield Public Library, KS
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.

PreS-Gr. 2. Sissy Button has trouble remembering to pick up after herself. In an extended dream sequence or in a flight of imagination (it isn't quite clear), she takes her stuffed bears on a picnic, where they create a mess. In frustration, she dumps the bears into the shovel of her Caterpillar tractor (it's refreshing to see a little girl who plays with a toy earthmover) and plops them into a lake, where she joins them for a swim. After this, the bears shape up and help out when it's time to build the fire and toast marshmallows and hot dogs. When Sissy Button's mother comes to the yard, she finds the teddy bears neatly lined up in the shovel of the toy tractor. Whybrow's rhythmic text is enhanced by Villet's bright, simple illustrations. The art is especially good at depicting the bears' floppiness, as in the scene showing one of the bears falling into a cake like the proverbial drunk at a wedding. Todd Morning
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