Today, Maybe

February 21, 2011
In this original combination of traditional fairy tale elements, a girl who lives alone in the forest waits for someone (who, even she's not sure) that she is convinced will appear. "Today, maybe he'll come," she tells her bird. Visited by a cast of fairy tale characters—thieves, a wolf, a witch—the girl stands her ground: "You can't change me into an elephant," she tells the witch, "because the person I'm waiting for won't recognize me." When a prince shows up, readers will think, Surely, he's the one!—but he isn't. "The prince thought the little girl was so perfect he wanted to marry her. The little girl had to explain that would be impossible." Grimard's watercolor and gouache spreads teeter on the edge of syrupy—the girl's golden hair, bee-stung lips, and moody expression don't convey her strong personality—but the artist's skillful use of space for bold closeups give the book persuasive power. Whether readers agree that the special someone is worth it (he's a bear), Demers's tale has a confidential, knowing air that some readers will like very much. Ages 4–8.

March 1, 2011

A mysterious and very Gallic (the author is French-Canadian) story with hints of Pippi Longstocking and Pooh without really being very like either. A little girl decides to "stop growing" and lives alone in a pretty cottage in the forest with her bird. She knows "how to make tea and bread-and-jam" and that she is waiting for someone. It's not the pirates who burst in and steal a pot of jam. It's not the great wolf to whom she tells a story that fills him "with new dreams" instead of eating her. It's not the prince, although she gives him her bread-and-jam recipe, and it's not the ugly witch. But when she wakes up one morning in spring, there is a scratch at the door. The illustrations are beautiful and a bit surreal in their angles and close-ups. Watercolor, gouache, oils and pencils make layers of color with depth and translucence. The girl herself wears a dress of sunflowers and lace, and she shows no fear of witch or wolf. She is waiting for a bear much patched and mended, with "eyes of gold and honey," who has been searching the world for her. Adults could probably make many dreams and metaphors of this, but it is lovely in itself, with its promise of the power of story and imagination, and the wait for the perfect, sublime friend. (Picture book. 5-8)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

April 15, 2011
Grades K-3 A little girl lives alone in a small house in a big forest, where she waits for someone. She doesnt know for whom she waits, nor why, but she is certain that someone will come. Then a parade of strangers arrives, including scurrilous thieves, a dastardly wolf, a handsome prince, and a wicked witch, all of whom threaten to steal, eat, marry her, or turn her into an elephant, respectively. The girl sends them off, each with a clever distraction, explaining that she is waiting for someone else. And, at last, that someone comes. Demers plays with familiar fairy-tale tropes, imbuing her heroine with confidence, purpose, and charm. Grimards demure paintings fill the large-trim pages, with vines, fruits, and teapots recalling the work of Mary Engelbreit, while bones and fangs add a tempered edge. The result is a work of clever, poetic sweetness, with familiar folktale imagery giving way to tender surprise. A whimsical choice for both family sharing and gift giving.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)

July 1, 2011
A girl living alone in the woods patiently and confidently awaits the arrival of someone, a mysterious "he," while expertly turning away various storybook-character types: pirates, a witch, prince, wolf, etc. Expansive gouache, oil, and watercolor paintings reveal the fairy-tale quality of this lyrical story that, while beautiful to look at and listen to, has questionable child appeal.

(Copyright 2011 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)