Jamie Anderson Wouldn't... (Paperback)

PreS-Jamie won't get up. He's not sick and he's not hurt, yet each day he stays in bed. Finally on Friday, his father returns from driving his ice-cream truck across the country and his son confides in him. He's tired of so many rules and he's worried about starting kindergarten. As dad joins him in bed, Jamie is reassured when he learns that his parents will accompany him to school. It is a swift and questionable resolution to a book with such a prolonged build up. The story starts with Monday and yet it's not until Wednesday that there's any mention of kindergarten. Astute listeners may begin to suspect that this is the root of the child's trouble and yet they'll be thrown off course on Thursday when he complains to the doctor of being sick of don'ts. The multiple concerns diffuse the story's true focus and will confuse young children. Whimsical, watercolor-and-line drawings that include a skateboarding doctor and an effervescent trick-performing cat make it seem as if the boy's worries are nothing serious. While the lighthearted art will elicit laughs, it distracts readers from the plot, making the unsettling subject matter even more unsettled.-Martha Topol, Traverse Area District Library, Traverse City, MI

Copyright 1998 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

One morning, Jamie Anderson finds he has a mysterious aversion to getting out of bed. His father is far away, driving his ice cream truck. Jamie's mother is sympathetic and gives him ice cream he asks for every day, but the situation is a little puzzling to them both. Jamie has no temperature, yet doesn't get any better. The doctor is called in and finds nothing wrong. The week progresses and Jamie continues to eat his ice cream, draw pictures and play with his cat and his racing cars. When his dad comes home, the mystery is solved: Jamie is overwhelmed about starting kindergarten.

The bond between father and son, and a child's step into a bigger world with its greater expectations, are themes handled with lively insight and humor by author Carol Meredith, while Lorrie Szekat's whimsical illustrations take us right into Jamie's little and too-big world.