Maybe Later Book

Long, long ago, Johnny's grandpa found a bottle on the beach. When Johnny roots it out of the back of Grandpa's closet, he can see a mysterious hunched-over shadow through the green glass. "We should break it," Johnny says. "Maybe later," says his grandpa. And so the story begins.

Children's Literature

While exploring his grandpa's closet one day, Johnny finds a bottle made of dark green glass. There is something inside but the top is sealed tight. Even though Johnny wants to break open the bottle, Grandpa keeps telling him, "maybe later." Grandpa proceeds to tell Johnny a series of stories that teach him about appreciating what you have and being patient. Johnny imagines many things inside the bottle that take him on adventures through his imagination. In the end, Johnny realizes that if he breaks open the bottle, he will lose all the things his imagination found. This enchanting story makes me long for stories from my own childhood and grandfather. Grandpa's analogies generally hit the mark and make the reader hope that Johnny will not open the bottle. One story, however, seems inappropriate and unclear. Henry, a farmer, has a chicken that lays golden eggs. In a fit of impatience, he wrings the chicken's neck, to get all the eggs at once, but all he gets is chicken guts. The meaning of grandpa's chicken story may be lost on a young reader. Overall, I think this book is as charming as its illustrations. I would add this to a 3rd and 4th grade library shelf. Reviewer: Ann Farina