Two and Too Much

Seven-year-old Brandon's attempt to take care of his two-year-old sister Gina results in one disaster after another.

Kindergarten-Grade 2-- Walter and Cummings use precise characterization and sharp attention to detail to bring freshness to the familiar situation of a young black boy who has to deal with a younger sister in the throes of the terrible twos. Brandon agrees to help his mother by watching Gina, although he'd rather do anything else--even vacuum. It's truly a tough job--she runs off to try on her mother's make-up, knocks over his toy garage, and spills her milk. After lunch, he can't find her. His anger dissipates into fear as he and his mother search the house and, when they find her napping on the floor beside her bed, his relief helps him to put his problems with Gina into perspective. What lifts this depiction of an everyday situation out of the commonplace is the immediacy with which Walter and Cummings convey Brandon's many conflicting emotions--pride, selfishness, reluctant amusement, anger, worry, love--in both language and image. Walter allows Brandon's feelings to flow out of each situation, expressing them with concrete accuracy. Cummings' full-page close-ups of the faces of mother, brother, and sister are done in warm watercolors, capturing Brandon and Gina's many moods. Gina, especially, scrambles across the pages with lively mischief, although she looks a little older than a two year old. It's a conventional predicament, one that many children will recognize, and Cummings and Walter skillfully portray its many dimensions. --Christine Behrmann, New York Public Library
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Walter and Cummings, winners of Coretta Scott King Awards for fiction and illustration, respectively, both bring considerable talent to this gentle story of a seven-year-old boy and his mischievous two-year-old sister. Brandon agrees to take care of Gina while Mama cleans the house for company. In no time at all, he begins to wish he had decided to go out and play with his friends instead. Gina answers "no" to all his suggestions, gets into Mama's makeup, makes a mess of Brandon's room and pours milk into the jelly jar at lunch. Finally, to Brandon's horror, Gina disappears altogether. With Mama's help, he discovers his sister on her bedroom floor--sleeping like an angel. With its vibrant paintings and reassuringly realistic text, this is a book that will appeal to several age groups: younger children will find Gina's antics most amusing, while those closer to Brandon's age who must put up with younger siblings will identify with his frustrations. Ages 4-7.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.