The Best Place to Read - Hardcover

Debbie Bertram and Susan Bloom have been a writing team for over seven years. Before turning to writing children's books full-time, Susan was an elementary school teacher and Debbie worked in television production. They met when Debbie's daughter was a student in Susan's class, and they have been friends ever since.Michael Garland is an award-winning, bestselling author and artist. He has illustrated over 20 children's books, including the bestseller The Mouse Before Christmas, and Icarus Swinebuckle, a Society of Illustrator Silver Medal winner. His art is regularly selected for the Society of Illustrator's annual Original Art Show. He lives in Patterson, New York.
From the Trade Paperback edition.

Eager to read his new book, the narrator of Bertram and Bloom's frolicsome debut just can't find the right spot to read. "I love Grammy's soft, cozy chair./ But so does old Rover. I tell him, `Move over,'/ But he won't make room for me there." The bean bag chair springs a leak, the backyard sprinklers drench him, and a wayward spring in "a lumpy and bumpy old chair" shoots him up "so high in the air." Finally he finds "the best place to be, just my book, Mom, and me"-his mother's lap. Except for a handful of awkward verses, the bouncy rhymes accentuate the slapstick and capture the boy's eagerness, frustration and (at last) cozy bliss. Garland (The Mouse Before Christmas) follows the text's light-hearted lead with computer-generated illustrations that recall Toy Story in the sculpted-clay look of figures and objects. The narrator's melon-size head sits atop a diminutive body, and his geometric world sports perfectly round bushes, with vibrant backgrounds featuring strong patterns. But the stylized approach diminishes the tender conclusion: in his mother's lap the boy appears stiff and his expression seems almost vacant. Aside from the chilly visual wrap-up, however, the story should elicit some giggles. Ages 3-6.
Copyright 2002 Reed Business Information, Inc.