CELEBRATION!

One African-American family's Fourth of July picnic takes a food-laden, loving approach that feels more manufactured than genuine. Maggie heralds the arrival of her relatives, all bearing food and games for the celebration. The book is dominated by descriptions of the dazzling array of foods, imposing an adult's-eye view on the gathering; adults sitting around and kids splashing in the pool are the extent of story. The characterizations are limited: One aunt, in her nurse's uniform and followed by her six children, is a ``broody old hen''; a couple (who have both finished law school) are defined by their insistence on bottled water, while their moody son is on a ``short leash'' for pilfering ``some candy at the drugstore''— the only character with definition, albeit a caricatured one. Col¢n's cross-hatchings create a pleasing portrait of a middle-class family's backyard party, but he neglects children's fondness for details that match the text: Granny drives her car, but gets out on the passenger side; a ``bowl'' of raw vegetables appears as a pot with a lid; a ``bachelor brother'' arrives with sparklers, but is shown holding VHS tapes; Pop is seen cooking hot dogs six pages before Mom says, ``Let's put the hot dogs on the fire and give [her brother] some food before he drinks any beer.'' Lacking the humorous tumult of Cynthia Rylant and Stephen Gammell's The Relatives Came (1985), the effect is fairly wholesome, but without benefit of strong emotion or a storyteller's voice, there are no fireworks. (Picture book. 5-8)