Title: The Party
Author: Barbara Reid
Illustrator: Barbara Reid
Publisher: North Winds Press
Copyright: 1997

Nervous and anxious, a young girl and her sister are dragged to a family gathering. Surviving the overabundance of kisses from the older folks, the children quickly indulge themselves in a variety of games, creating an atmosphere that no child would want to abandon.

Comments:

Reid’s rhyming text combined with her signature Plasticine illustrations, capture the joy that is shared between extended families. The artwork explodes from the page with remarkable energy and emotion. Especially extravagant is the picture of the cousins spinning in circles. The blurring of the picture definitely gives reader’s the full effect of the dizziness that the characters feel. Such meticulous detail and life like illustrations make this family reunion feel like your own.

Genre: RF (Realistic Fiction)
Age Range: 5 - 10