Sonderbooks Book Review of What a Year

****What a Year*

by Tomie de Paola

Reviewed February 1, 2003.
G. P. Putnam’s Sons, New York, 2002. 75 pages.
Available at Sembach Library (JB DEP)

This book continues the wonderful 26 Fairmount Avenue series in which Tomie de Paola tells about his life when he was a young boy starting school. This book tells what it was like for him when he was six.

There’s nothing thrilling or dramatic in these books, but they are beautifully and simply written, with plenty of pictures, perfect for a child just ready for chapter books. Tomie de Paola clearly remembers what it was like to be six, and he presents the story with what would be important to a six-year-old--Birthdays, holidays, and catching the chicken pox. Yes, times were different in 1940, but apparently childhood was the same. This book, like those before it, is satisfying, interesting reading.

Reviews of other books by Tomie dePaola:
Things Will Never Be the Same
Pascual and the Kitchen Angels
Let the Whole Earth Sing Praise
Fight the Night

Book Reviews by Sondra Eklund

***What a Year

by Tomie de Paola

****What a Year*