KATE'S BOX; KATE'S CAR; KATE'S QUILT; KATE'S SNOWMAN

by Kay Chorao ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 29, 1982

Still another group of small-format mini-stories, featuring a single character (see, most recently, Lindgren p. 675)--which is coming to seem an excess of miniaturization and multiplication. (The attraction, one presumes, is commercial.) These four, featuring small, disgruntled elephant Kate, are not quite all-of-a-kind, though. In Kate's Box, she refuses to come out of her box for baby Cousin Otto's visit; last time, he was the family darling. This time, however, Otto howls--and everyone leaves; then it's Kate who, with the box, jollies and cuddles him. Kate's Car, on the other hand, is a mere trick--on the reader and Kate's family. She's wailing for a car; they're telling her why she can't have one--and getting more and more annoyed. Then it turns out that in saying ""Car!"" she was referring to her toy car--which friend Olive returns: ""You left it at my house."" Kate's Quilt hinges, winningly, on a small perturbation: Mama has presented a pajama'ed Kate with ""something soft and warm for your bed""--which, to her dismay, isn't a doll. Kate stamps her foot; Mama, looking ""sad,"" departs. But Kate's bed is cold, the night shapes outside are scary--and the quilt, of course, is a comfort. Kate's Snowman, by comparison, is trifling. After boasting about all the snowmen she's going to make (""round like you Mama""; ""mean like you, George""), Kate, actually out in the snow, can't move; so brother George rolls her down a snowy slope--at the end of which she looks like a snowman. Kate's Box and Kate's Quilt have some sensitivity and substance; the other two are skit-lets.

Pub Date: Sept. 29, 1982

ISBN: 525-44010-0

Page Count: -

Publisher: Dutton

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1982

Categories: CHILDREN'S