From the “hop hop hop” across the lobby floor on “just the black squares,” it’s clear that Violet’s visit will be a topsy-turvy experience for her mom’s bemused and beleaguered co-workers. Reichert embellishes a narrative style reminiscent of Laura Numeroff’s in the If You Give… series and presents a sturdy heroine evocative of Kay Thompson’s Eloise (as a member of the proletariat). Violet’s helpful advice interprets coffee breaks (snack time, with doughnuts) and networking (distributing your rampantly photocopied face, appended with your name and title). She helps the boss with his staff presentation (show-and-tell) and revels in office supplies. Boiger weaves her own daughter’s persona into these pencil-and–mixed-media illustrations, depicting Violet and her mother in color, while co-workers are rendered in pale blue-grays and ochres, and office equipment is outlined in similarly sere tones. Violet sports a green, pom-pom–topped cap, red sweater, denim shorts, striped tights and black low-top sneakers. Mom’s cranberry-colored umbrella figures visually in Violet’s day, whether it’s skewering doughnuts or delivering a shower of confetti adeptly fashioned from shredded paper and punched holes.
Many families will enjoy the interplay here between mother (efficient and loving) and daughter (sky’s the limit). (Picture book. 4-8)
