![]() ![]() But the news that bright Jessie will be skipping a grade to join Evan’s fourth-grade class creates tension. Jessie and Evan are usually good friends as well as sister and brother. Unfortunately, the length makes it less likely to appeal to the intended audience. Told from the point of view of two warring siblings, this could have been an engaging first chapter book. It’s like looking through a magical lens of time-release photography. Kids and adults will pore over the tiny details, from building graffiti to people planting gardens and kids walking dogs. The ingenious staging of miniature collage constructions creates a 3-D effect that humanizes the urban changes that transform the community into a place that’s “home.” The author’s note expresses her tenet and belief that “communities are finding ways that their streets can once again become part of people’s sense of home and belonging.” Brilliant in concept and execution, this fascinating enactment conveys the importance of community in a young person’s life. She views each scene from the same perspective personal objects on the sill connote the passage of time as a young girl grows into adulthood, e.g., a teddy bear, a cup with “I am Four,” a pencil case marked “age 8,” a make-up mirror, a university prospectus, and a wedding invitation. As she did in Window (1991), Baker offers an intriguing wordless observation of how a neighborhood changes over time through the vantage point of a double-paned window frame. ![]()
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