Review: Little Blue Chair by Cary Fagan and Madeline Kloepper

9781770497559

$16.99

Boo's favorite chair is little and blue. He sits in it, reads in it and makes a tent around it...until the day he grows too big for it. His mother puts the little blue chair out on the lawn where a truck driver picks it up. The truck driver sells it to a lady in a junk store where it sits for many years until it's sold and put to use as a plant stand. In the years that follow, the little blue chair is used in many other ways — on an elephant ride, in a contest, on a Ferris wheel, in a tree...until the day it flies away, borne aloft by balloons, and lands in a garden of daffodils where a familiar face finds it.

Kids (and adults) who delight in finding new uses for things will take similar delight in this sweet book. Young readers will be fascinated by all the adventures this simple blue chair gets to go on - from holding a plant to riding an elephant! 

Kloepper's illustrations are a bit reminiscent of Ruth Krauss, and fit the story perfectly. I only wish Fagan had not felt the need to spell out who the familiar face at the end was - as an adult reader I pretty much knew that was coming, and I am certain children reading it would have understood it. I felt a bit let down at that point, as the prose until then had been excellent. Still, a great addition to a shared or private library, and sure to inspire some sifting through junk piles!

***Edited to say that Logan absolutely fell in love with the story, clutching the book to his chest and falling asleep with it! The overstating that bothered me did not bother him in the least. He and Sheridan have been taking turns reading it out loud.

*NOTE: This title has been nominated for the Cybils Award, and I am a first round panelist. There are many nominations and six other judges. My opinions should not be construed as a sign of inclusion or exclusion on the final short list.