The Caldecott Honor Book, One Morning in Maine, follows a spunky young girl, Sal, as she makes her own adventure and fun on the morning she loses her first tooth. Each page has up to two paragraphs and plenty of dialogue for the distinctly different personalities of the characters. The author very accurately portrays a child's excitement and curiosity of a loose tooth - Sal tells everyone and everything she sees about her tooth, eagerly showing all who are willing to take a peek. The pictures are sketched and so full of fine details and shading that it's easy to forget that they do not have color.
There is humor in the book, including things like Jane, Sal's younger sister, running around the hall in just her diaper because she wiggled out of her nighty, the expressions of the family dog, Sal slipping on the seaweed because she leans too far forward when showing a seal her loose tooth, and just Sal's excited and extroverted personality in general. Sal is always asking questions, just as your little one may do. She wants to know what to do with a loose tooth and if every animal has teeth. Sal interacts with many animals throughout the first part of the book which your child may recognize, from the family dog and cat, to seaside animals like a hawk, loon, seal, seagulls, and clams. You can also impress upon your child all of the subtle good behavior Sal exemplifies; she is nice to her little sister, brushes her teeth first thing in the morning, helps her dad, and even wears her life vest in the boat.
My five-year-old friend, Molly, said Sal seems nice and would make a good friend. Molly wanted to know where Main was, so we looked at a map together and I explained how far away it was from where we live. I don't think she really understood until I told her how many days it would take to drive there. Molly then wanted to know if everyone in Maine drove a boat around like in the book, because if so, she wants to move there.
--Audra
