Hot Time in the City: Heat Wave by Eileen Spinelli

In a scene all too familiar these days, a summer heat wave settles over a 1950's-era town where everyone is "sun sizzled, hair frizzled."

In those pre-air conditioning days, when kitchens are like saunas and beds are like griddles, folks in Lumberville cope with the heat as best they can. Lottie Mims takes four cold showers and mops the kitchen in her bathing suit; Mike the Mailman wears a wet kerchief around his neck as he goes about his route; and Abigail and Ralphie sell out of lemonade and then sell the ice. The Perribone sisters put their makeup and perfume in the icebox, while Butchy and Charley squirt each other with the hose and listen to the radio lying on the cool linoleum.

When the fiery sun sets and the temperature drops a few degrees, the townspeople drag mattresses outside, pitch homemade tents in the backyard, sleep on the roof, and camp out along the riverbank where the mayor passes out popsicles and political pamphlets. Finally everyone is sleeping fitfully in the humid darkness, all dreaming "the exact same dream, " a dream of cooling, reviving showers.

When real rain begins to fall on the steamy sleepers, do they dash inside with their pillows? No way. The people celebrate the return of the rain with an outdoor block party, each enjoying the welcome rainfall in his own unique style. Children catch the delicious raindrops on their tongues; the dog shakes himself joyfully; and the spinster Perribone sisters dance a delirious pas de deux. And the morning headline shouts, "HEAT WAVE BREAKS!"

Caldecott medalist (for Click, Clack, Moo Cows That Type) Betsy Lewin's affectionate and humorous illustrations of folks cheerfully dealing with the dog days of summer add much to the warmth of this nostalgic tale of beating the heat back in the day! Heat Wave is as refreshing as a much-needed summer shower.