Red Light, Green Light, Mama and Me - Hardcover

Best, Cari

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0531094529 ISBN 13: 9780531094525

Publisher: Orchard Books, 1995

Synopsis

After taking the train downtown, Lizzie spends the day at the public library, helping her mother who is a children's librarian

About this title

From Booklist:

Ages 4^-7. Lizzie is excited about spending a day at work with her mother, a children's librarian at the big downtown library. Embracing the camaraderie of Mama's work family, Lizzie stamps papers for Flo, finds an answer with Albert for a lady who wonders why sleeping pigeons don't fall off the library roof, and, best of all, helps Mama with story hour by huffing and puffing like the Big Bad Wolf. Focusing on Lizzie's youthful observations--people's shoes on the crowded subway, a sleeping man and dog who "are missing the blue sky and all the pigeons," and the amount of Mama's mail ("Mama gets more mail than the President" )--Best's text captures Lizzie's sense of adventure while Daly's illustrations reflect that same joy of discovery through discreet, insightful details, such as Lizzie's delight reflected in a store window and her serious rehearsal for her Big Bad Wolf role. Daly skillfully blends the watercolors, using few defining lines, to create a soft wash of color, as fluid and energetic as Lizzie herself. Linda Ward-Callaghan

From Publishers Weekly:

When her grandma catches the flu, Lizzie gets to commute downtown with Mama, who is a children's librarian. Although it is an ordinary day for her mother, to Lizzie it is filled with wondrous experiences: the subway "roaring out of the darkness like a hungry lion"; the noisy, "mirror shiny" city; the vast library and its employees, who include Lizzie in their work duties and at lunchtime. The action is low-key-Best (Taxi! Taxi!) wisely realizes that an average workday needs no embellishment to enthrall a child. Awash in affection and Lizzie's growing sense of belonging, the day rises from the humdrum to the near magical. Daly (One Round Moon and a Star for Me) bolsters this effect with understated, slightly squiggly watercolors that are winsome and benevolent toward Best's gracious characters. Discovering kindness and satisfaction in the mysterious world of adult work, Lizzie (and young readers) just might feel better about saying good-bye in the mornings to come. Ages 3-7.
Copyright 1995 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Orchard Books
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0531094529
• ISBN 13: 9780531094525
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32
• Illustrator: Daly Niki