Monday, August 27, 2012

Review: Penny and Her Song

Penny and Her Song
By Kevin Henkes
Published 2012 by Greenwillow Books

Penny loves her song and wants to share it with her family - but her mother and father keep putting her off; they don't want to wake the babies after all. Will Penny ever get to share her song?

I must admit that early/easy/beginning readers (whatever you want to call them) are my weakness. This is the category of juvenile literature that I read the least of. I always make an exception for Elephant and Piggie, but don't really read much else from these shelves. However, I find it hard to resist Kevin Henkes, so I picked this one up recently for a quick read. It's a lovely little story that's a bit more complex than it seems at first - Penny is learning about family relationships and what it means to be one part of a bigger unit. The illustrations are signature Henkes - Penny and her family are his traditional mice. I can't resist how comforting this book feels and the story is lovely and sure to resonant with young readers adapting to changing family dynamics. If readers can get used to searching for Henkes on those early reader shelves, they won't be disappointed with this find. I hope he writes more - this was a lovely addition to his work.

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