SLEEPOVER AT GRAMMA’S HOUSE

A young elephant child says goodbye to all that is familiar and “in the regular place” and sets off to Gramma’s. The text’s refrain, “Oh. We love each other so,” is punctuated by the rollicking activities that she and her “Gramma silly / silly millie silly millie” do together—a tea party, painting, a bath, dancing, watching a storm from the porch swing and falling “asleep / …inside a hug.” Joosse may have captured the breathless excitement and stream-of-consciousness thinking that carry the young narrator a little too well, as the tale does not flow so much as bounce along, willy-nilly. Jutte’s illustrations are jam-packed full of details. Readers get a clear sense of the child’s excitement and activity level, but they will never lose sight of the relationship being celebrated. The colors in the ink, watercolor and acrylic illustrations lend the artwork a retro feel, and the elephants may remind many readers of Babar. A sweet theme, but the gentle rhymes and less-frenetic pace of Mary Ann Hoberman’s I’m Going to Grandma’s, illustrated by Tiphanie Beeke (2007), may be more suitable for younger listeners. (Picture book. 4-6)