JENNIFER'S NEW CHAIR
By
In uninvolving, affectless prose, Bible establishes that Jennifer has a favorite chair; then he has her cut out invitations for her sixth birthday party. That night in bed Jennifer smells smoke; her nightclad parents (black father, white mother) rush her outside; and their house burns down. As shown in a ridiculously stilted sidewalk grouping, Jennifer cries over losing her chair--but presto! around the comer at Gammy's house, a substitute is found in the attic. Also, ""Gammy bought new crayons and paper and Jennifer made new invitations. The birthday party was in Gammy's house""--and the fire, presumably, just a momentary disappointment on the level of a spilled ice cream cone. With drab gray wash backgrounds, but faces and hair that stand out discordantly, Bible's illustrations have a strange, overexposed look. Misdirected.