The Almost Terrible Playdate
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- $4.99
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- $4.99
Publisher Description
“A delightful look at the importance of compromise among friends.”—Kirkus
Ideal for all families who have ever heard (or said!) the words “Why can’t you both JUST GET ALONG?!”, here is the story of two young children with VERY different ideas of what they want to play. What starts with an innocent question (“What do you want to play?”) soon veers hilariously toward chaos, as two children engage in the age-old struggle of princesses, ponies, and ballet vs. dinosaurs, dragons, and race cars. Which child will win? Or will both find a way to play nicely together?
In a humorous mock–epic battle staged with crayon illustrations of each child’s increasingly steadfast and elaborate ideas of what they want to play, Richard Torrey taps into the charged and volatile emotions of childhood, which every parent and child will recognize with a smile. It’s a lighthearted and funny way to reflect on the ideas of sharing, cooperation, patience, and generosity.
“A clever story of dueling imaginations.”—School Library Journal
“A playful and accessible introduction to cooperation.”—Booklist
“Friendship, it seems, like make-believe, takes an act of imagination.”—The New York Times
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Two children find themselves at cross-purposes as they suggest pretend-play scenarios and cast themselves in the best role. Dueling thought balloons picture each child's suggestions and the other's resistance: "What if I'm a magical wizard... and you're a frog that I turn into a pony?" the girl proposes. "No, how about we're both race cars but I'm the fastest?" the boy later suggests, imagining a high-speed race while the girl thinks of ear-splitting motor noise. Torrey sketches the friends in black lines on white backgrounds and uses colored pencil purple for the girl, green for the boy to create their mental images, building on the visual tactic he used so effectively in Ally-saurus and the First Day of School. His design brings the children's ideas to vivid imaginative life, and when they cooperate, purple figures appear in the green illustrations and vice versa. "If you're a bulldozer, maybe you can build a road to my castle," says the would-be queen. Torrey's characters model compromise and amiability, adjusting their gendered stances and negotiating a mutually acceptable balance of princesses and dragons. Ages 3 7.
