Darkmistress's Full Review: Kevin Henkes - Wemberly Worried
My oldest nephew Jonathan started school this year. He was very worried about it. He worried about getting on the right bus, he worried that other kids wouldn’t like him, he worried and worried. On the first day of school, my mother (who teaches 3rd grade in the same building) went down to the kindergarten room about a half hour after the bus should have dropped him off with the intention of peeking in the classroom and making sure he was ok (after all, the kindergarten teacher, whom she has known for 12 years might reveal herself to be a baby sacrificing, devil worshiper or something.) The bus was late. Mom came around the corner from the steps just as the kindergarten teacher was bringing the kids in from the bus. She said Jonathan had his little shoulders hunched up, hands gripping his backpack straps, staring at the floor. He was busy worrying. When she said hi his little face lit up. All was well until the bus ride home.
On the ride home he had a substitute driver (also well known to my mother.) The driver asked Jonathan to confirm his address on her list "Just so she’d be sure to get him home to the right house." Jonathan worried that he would not get home. When he did get home and got off the bus, my sister noticed that he seemed upset. She asked what was wrong and in a flood of tears the whole story came out. My nephew worries too much.
So last night, when I was looking through the Borders’ Christmas catalogue and I spotted Wemberly Worries by Kevin Henke I knew I had found his present.
Kevin Henke wrote and illustrated the positively delightful Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse a few years ago. The story was cute, and the illustrations were cartoony and fun. It was such a hit that a Lily doll was made, purple plastic purse and all. So I made a bee line for the kids section this morning and located a copy of Wemberly Worries and read it, mostly out loud, right away.
Wemberly is a little mouse who worries. She worries that the crack in the living room wall will get bigger and something will come out. She worries that her parents will sneak away in the night. She worries that her doll doesn’t have her own car seat. And when it’s time to start school, oh boy does Wemberly worry. I don’t want to ruin the plot for you, but (just so you don’t worry) Wemberly is ok.
The illustrations are adorable. Henke gets an amazing amount of pathos out of his little line drawings. The way the story is paced it makes a wonderful read aloud (trust me, I was reading it aloud in the warehouse this morning.) And best of all, there are no big blocks of text to bore listeners and wear out the vocal chords of readers.
I wish I had found this book, say, three months ago, but what the hey my sister has two more and I’ve got 3 nephews on my husband’s side under 3.
Grab up a copy. Heck, give it to a friend or co-worker who worries too much. And while you’re picking it up, take a look at Lily’s Purple Plastic Purse. They’re both winners.
A mouse named Wemberly, who worries about everything, finds that she has a whole list of things to worry about when she faces the first day of nursery...More at HotBookSale
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