The Almost Terrible Playdate

December 14, 2015
Two children find themselves at cross-purposes as they suggest pretend-play scenarios and cast themselves in the best role. Dueling thought balloons picture each child's suggestions and the other's resistance: "What if I'm a magical wizard... and you're a frog that I turn into a pony?" the girl proposes. "No, how about we're both race cars but I'm the fastest?" the boy later suggests, imagining a high-speed race while the girl thinks of ear-splitting motor noise. Torrey sketches the friends in black lines on white backgrounds and uses colored pencilâpurple for the girl, green for the boyâto create their mental images, building on the visual tactic he used so effectively in Ally-saurus and the First Day of School. His design brings the children's ideas to vivid imaginative life, and when they cooperate, purple figures appear in the green illustrations and vice versa. "If you're a bulldozer, maybe you can build a road to my castle," says the would-be queen. Torrey's characters model compromise and amiability, adjusting their gendered stances and negotiating a mutually acceptable balance of princesses and dragons. Ages 3â7. Agent: Ronnie Ann Herman, Herman Agency.

November 1, 2015
A boy and a girl with different ideas of imaginative play find middle ground. Torrey returns with an all-too-familiar tale of two children who cannot agree on their pretend play during their play date. The debate begins amicably as the young girl suggests playing queen of the castle, but the boy counters with dinosaur role-playing instead. As their back and forth continues, the children become increasingly frustrated. Neither will back down, and the two decide to play on their own. After moments of parallel play, the two stretch their imaginations to create a world that caters to both of their ideas. Torrey's text captures his young audience's naturally exuberant dialogue. However, each child's play suggestions stick closely to gender stereotypes. The girl suggests ballerinas and castles, while the boy prefers fire-breathing dragons and race cars. Expressive illustrations tell the story with barely any need for the accompanying text. Crayon drawings offer a preview of each child's imagination, while each child's body language and facial expressions allow for easy inference of the children's moods. The palette is minimal: purple for what the girl imagines and green for the boy; except for color-coded clothing, the rest is black lines on white backgrounds. A mostly delightful look at the importance of compromise among friends. (Picture book. 3-8)

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January 1, 2016

PreS-Gr 1-Having a playdate can be the best, but agreeing on what to play is another story. Two children exchange ideas, but neither one is willing to compromise and accept the other's suggestions. When the girl posits that she is a wizard and that the boy is a frog-turned-pony on which her doll can ride, the boy is frustrated imagining himself a frog. When the boy suggests they both be race cars competing for the title of Champion of the Universe, the girl imagines covering her ears at the deafening sound. The story continues back and forth, until the action reaches a crescendo and the children resolve to play alone. That is, until they find a way for their ideas to coexist. The art is consistent throughout, showing each child in black pencil outline with single-colored clothing and their ideas illustrated to life in the corresponding color of their clothes. There are no background illustrations, so the eye focuses directly on the images each child is conjuring through his or her ideas. Often the imagined self of the child is taking on the same pose as the real-life child while they are going back and forth. VERDICT A clever story of dueling imaginations.-Matthew C. Winner, Ducketts Lane Elementary School, Elkridge, MD

Copyright 2016 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 1, 2016
Grades K-2 In squiggly colored-pencil and ink drawings accentuated with charming thought bubbles, Torrey captures the sprite antics of a mismatched play date. The story opens with a seemingly easy question What do you want to play? and a boy and girl propose games (which are quite gendered) on facing pages, foreshadowing their ensuing drama. The boy and girl alternate suggesting and rejecting ideas, and as their ideas escalate in intensity, both of the kids, in their color-coded, scribbled thought bubbles, creatively imagine the destructions of the other's idea, which imbues the conflict with wit and charm. What if I'm a ballet instructor and you're in my ballet school? asks the girl, while the boy imagines himself frowning while wearing a tutu. The boy's suggestion elicits a similar response from the girl, and so it continues until they wonder whether they can play together at all. Playing alone is not as much fun, however, and as the story progresses, they learn a valuable and entertaining lesson about compromise. A playful and accessible introduction to cooperation.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2016, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2016
A girl in purple and a boy in green take turns suggesting--and rejecting--imaginative games, ultimately combining all ideas as they play with blocks. The plot is somewhat dull and the kids' suggestions tend towards stereotypical gender roles (though the compromise moves away from that). Stick drawings in oil-based pencils, crayons, and colored pencils mimic a child's work, emphasizing creativity as a process.

(Copyright 2016 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)