Siblings clash, then resolve their issues without parental meddling in these three child-centered episodes. Preschooler Sophie rejects every dish her preteen sister Annie tries to serve for a cooking class, then does her best to give Annie a quiet time (with notable lack of success), and finally receives a low-maintenance “pet”—a seed she dubs “Tiny”—of her very own. Blumenthal drolly captures the sisters’ disparate personalities—and so does Ering, depicting patient (but not unreasonably so) Annie with sensibly neat brown hair and Sophie as an unruly redhead. She’s flopped back in her chair with an expression of comical disgust when Annie proudly uncovers “Ze best blue cheese omelet!,” absorbedly constructing a doomed “very quiet, very tall house” from blocks, and at last, dancing delightedly on her bed when Tiny undergoes an overnight transformation. Here’s a right-on picture of a close, if not always smooth, relationship that will make knowing readers grin. (Picture book. 6-8)
