Hot Day on Abbott Avenue Book

It's the hottest, stickiest day of the summer. A fat-sun-in-the-sky day. An eating-ice-pops-on-the-porch day. And for Kishi and Renée, it's a best-friends-breakup day. Each girl sits on her own front porch, waiting for the other to apologize, even though they know they'll never speak to each other again, no matter how bored they get. But then the sounds of feet slapping the pavement and voices chanting double-dutch rhymes drift up the avenue, and neither one can resist going out in the street to play.

This lyrical friendship story, the first collaboration of two outstanding artists, pairs a rhythmic text with distinctive collage illustrations. Its subtle message about sharing and forgiveness will resonate with anyone who has ever experienced the ups and downs of being, and having, a best friend.

Publishers Weekly

English's (Just Right Stew) carefully cadenced narrative sets a scene that conveys the sluggishness of a sizzling day, when it's "too hot to even flutter a fan." The high temperature only fuels the tension between Kishi and Ren e, who sneak peeks at each other but refuse to exchange words-"It's a best-friend-breakup day." The girls turn down neighbors' invitations to help do a crossword puzzle or weed a garden ("No working together on a never-speak-to-her-again-even-if-she-was-the-last-person-on-earth day"). Steptoe's (In Daddy's Arms I Am Tall) collage renderings of the girls' simmering anger echoes a palpable sense of heat, with backgrounds overlaid in tissues of orange and red hues. His small, boxy panel compositions underscore a sense of the girls having backed themselves into a corner. Ren e finally reveals to a neighbor (and simultaneously to Kishi) the root of the row: Kishi bought the last blue ice pop from the ice cream man even though she knows that is Ren e's favorite. When a neighborhood game of double dutch lures the girls to a truce, Steptoe's illustrations burst into full-page and full-spread collages. English works into her narrative the former feuding friends' jump-rope chants, the words to which are playfully arranged to mimic the line of the rope. The denouement may be somewhat syrupy, but youngsters will be pleased to see the girls' hard feelings evaporate, turning the summer afternoon into "a feeling-good-about-being-best-friends-again day." Ages 5-8. (May) Copyright 2004 Reed Business Information.