Author: Lourdes Heuer
Genre: early chapter book
Similar books: Henry and Mudge series by Cynthia Rylant
Kitty and Dragon by Meika Hashimoto
Rating:
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Summary (provided by publisher): Esme lives with her grandparents on the uppermost floor of the topmost best building. It's her birthday. Mimi and Pipo gave her a beautiful guitar. But they didn't plan a birthday party.
Esme thinks this is the way with grandparents. They don't know about parties or piñatas or birthday cake. No problem! Esme is great at problem solving.
With the help of her cat, El Toro, and a LOT of help from her neighbors in the topmost best building, the irrepressible Esme gets the birthday party of her dreams.
My opinion: This book straddles the line between picture book and chapter book, much like Henry and Mudge. The plot has the simplicity of a picture book, a basic conflict with only minimal complications. Much of the complication is seen more in the illustrations than in the text itself. The writing is a bit more fleshed out, including more details and descriptive language than would be typical of a picture book. This leaves us with a quick, charming, easy to follow story that helps a beginning reader gain confidence. It helps that Esme is an irrepressible character. When her birthday isn't what she expected, she makes it happen for herself. She doesn't moan about not having a birthday party; she plans her own. Sure, that leaves some chaos in her wake but her cheerfulness wins over even the grumpiest of neighbors.
Advanced Reader Copy provided by NetGalley
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