Whither? Whether? Whatever! The Weather Girls by Aki

MEET THE WEATHER GIRLS!

IN SUMMER TIME WE RISE AND SHINE!

A BIG, BRIGHT SUN! LET'S HAVE SOME FUN!

Sixteen little girls in slickers are ready for rain, but when the sun's out, it's time for swimming and splashing in swimsuits!

And when leaves fall and autumn is all they've got, they make the best of it, skipping in the wild winds and jumping in the fallen leaves, picking apples from apple trees, and biking in the breezy breeze.

Winter brings toboggan caps with tassels and poofy parkas and mittens, just right for snowballs and snowmen. And of course when spring zephyrs play with  blossoms, when showers bring flowers, there are rainbows above. What's not to love about all sorts of weathers and seasons?

Sixteen little girls, in two straight lines... in rain or shine.... If this book reminds us of something, it should, because it has the same premise as Ludwig Bemelman's Madeline. and Aki's brand-new The Weather Girls (Henry Holt and Company, 2018), while not giving us a picturesque tour of Paris, give us sixteen lively and varied little girls who are jolly and active whatever the weather. Cute as buttons in their sunny-colored slickers, they brighten a dreary rainy scene, and in all the seasons, they don't sit still, going hither and yon through the woods, the town, the seaside and the sledding hill, whither they willst through the seasons!

Aki's straight lines of girls make for an engaging page design and this lighthearted look at the cycle of the seasons is a pleasure to the eye. Kirkus opines, "A breezy seasonal storytime choice . . . the art carries most of the weight—and does so delightfully."

Back to School? Second Grade Holdout by Audrey Vernick

I was a lot of things in first grade.

Star of the Day.

Unable to sit still (according to Ms. Morgan).

In the same class as my best friend, Tyler.

Tyler and I were pretty much kings of the twisty slide.

But things are not looking so good for second grade. His dad lays down the law about his priorities.

"Your job is to be a good student!" Dad says.

Then our rising second grader finds out that his friend Tyler is assigned to Mrs. Herman's class, while he has Mr. Glazer. It's time for Plan A. He figures he can kinda sneak into Mrs. Herman's class on the first day, incognito. His parents proclaim firmly that's never going to happen. He's underwhelmed with Mom's promise of the excitement of the second-grade field trip to the town jail.

Okay, it's time for Plan B.

Maybe he'll just stay in first grade. First grade has a lot going for it. Ms. Morgan understands him. He'll be, like, Lakeview School's most brilliant first grader ever! And on the zoo trip, he's sure to win the scavenger hunt prize! But, nope! Mom refuses to sign off on Plan B, too.

Second grade sounds like a lot of work. Tyler's two big sisters enthusiastically spell it out in discouraging detail. Sabrina describes the curriculum.

"You have to spell words like rendezvous and platypus. You have to speak Russian by Thanksgiving.

You have to learn the presidents by heart. Forward AND backward. Or you fail."

Tyler's sisters have more bad news. Mr. Glazer loves basketball but Ms. Herman hates it. The boys counter with the consolation that at least they can play ball together at recess.

And then comes the killer. Jacqueline drops the big bomb.

"Mrs Herman doesn't allow recess!" she says.

Hey!Wait! Have Tyler's sisters finally managed to exceed credulity, going one tall tale over the line?

The kings of the twisty slide cannot be tricked!

After all, first grade graduates weren't born yesterday, in Audrey Vernick's latest, Second Grade Holdout (Houghton Mifflin Clarion, 2017). Author Vernick dramatically paces her page turns perfectly in this second book about the perils of the primary grades, and artist Matthew Cordell frames his skillfully crafted cartoon illustrations in spot-art style, center page, with a mastery of facial expression and body language that pretty much tells the story to perfection in tandem with Vernick's text. Share this one with their 2015 hit for the back-to-school set, First Grade Dropout (see review here.) for a first choice for the first day of school!

Siege at the Swing Set! Rulers of the Playground by Joseph Kuefler

One morning Jonah decided to become Ruler of the Playground.

"I am now King. Obey me and I will let you play in my kingdom."

Who knows why someone decides to be Emperor of All He Surveys! Ask Napoleon.

The other kids are bemused, perplexed, and speechless. They didn't know they needed a King. But the big slide is in Jonah's domain, so they pinkie-swear their allegiance.

But among his uneasy subjects there resides a rebel.

Everyone played in King Jonah's Kingdom...

Except for one--Lennox. She wanted to rule.

Lady Lennox mounts a rebellion. She seizes the big swings and declares them her realm. She calls upon all of those who wish to swing to declare fealty to Queen Lennox of the Swing Set. She decrees that all her citizens cross their hearts and promise loyalty.

It's a stalemate in the Great Land of Free Play. Their fiefdoms are divided. Maps are drawn with firm borders lest one subject trespass. Both sovereigns draw up Plans for Conquering and blueprints for walls and tunnels. They carry out small incursions to conquer prized areas. The teeter-totter is first to fall, and then. treachery--Augustine's dog, Sir Hamilton Humphrey Hildebrand III, is taken hostage.

The peasants are growing restless. The plebs are plotting revolt, and the tyrants decide it's time for a truce, in Joseph Kuefler's Rulers of the Playground (Balzer and Braym 2017).

In a humorous spoof of the urge to rule, Kuefler's characters replicate history in his Great Playground Takeover saga. Kuefler's characters are delineated by their varied costumes. Jonah and Lennox affect medieval garb, robes and crowns, as their subject begins to separate into factions, waving their banners, and it looks like there is going to be a rumble at the jungle gym--or a mass emigration from both realms.

Uneasy are the heads that wear the crown. Who knew monarchy was so complicated? Jonah and Lennox see that it's about time to for peace to reign in the Land of the Playground. This story is a nifty bit of spoofery, executed in charming mixed media drawings, with just a bit of a worthy treatise on human nature at its core. Says Kirkus in their starred review, "... a sly reminder that being in charge isn’t always as fun as it looks."