Thursday, April 1, 2010

Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes

Lilly's Purple Plastic Purse by Kevin Henkes

Rating: 5 stars

If Lorelei ever chose a favorite anything, this might be her favorite everything.

We adore Lilly and will be eternally grateful to our wonderful neighbor for sharing it with us (and introducing us to Kevin Henkes). Lilly is so unique and funny and headstrong...she is so endearing, I think, because she's so kid-like. She trots around in fantastic red boots that you could only get away with if you were a little girl. Or, in this case, a little mouse. She is smitten with her teacher, a fun mouse-dude straight from the 70s who dares to suggest his rodent-students put their desks in a semicircle instead of boring lines. Lilly goes to school with new treasures purchased with her Grammy over the weekend and can't WAIT till sharing time to share them. Beloved Mr. Slinger firmly and understandably takes them away from her. She gets upset and draws a mean picture, which she quickly regrets when her belongings are returned to her, complete with a sweet note from Mr. Slinger. Oops.

Ok, maybe I love little Lilly because I make little rash decisions almost every day that I wish I could re-do just moments later. I might be known to put my foot in my mouth just every now and then...maybe. I love that Lorelei gets a little lesson thinking before you acting--especially putting something in writing when you're mad!--at this young an age. I love that Lilly's parents a) make her apologize to Mr. Slinger and b) support Mr. Slinger and how he reprimands their daughter. And I love how Lilly's father is the one to bake treats rather than his mother!

As in almost all of his other mouse books (Weekend with Wendell is the only exception I know of), Henkes throws in quirky little stuff for the grown ups to chuckle at. I appreciate that, and it's nice to have a book your child can appreciate on deeper levels in a few more years. This is a wonderful book--another one for the required reading list!

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