Shoot for the Moon, Robin

Christine Linge is a past director of the Toronto & District Parent
Co-operative Preschool Corporation, a freelance writer, and a bookseller
specializing in children’s literature.

Robyn wants to be the world’s greatest singer, but she can’t
practise at home because the babies in the next apartment are sick. She
helps the twins’ harried mother by pushing their carriage up and down
the hallway, singing scales inside her head. Meanwhile, she has
antagonized some kids at school who believe she snitched on them, when
in reality she was speaking to the teacher about singing for the music
class. Robyn must find a song, and somewhere to practise, to prove her
innocence. Her piano teacher provides her with a song Robyn believes to
be about “working in a match factory,” but she discovers to her
horror that it is about matchmaking. Although feeling discouraged, she
continues to wheel the babies, and is rewarded by discovering the
perfect song. The book concludes with Robyn delivering a great
performance for her class.

This chapter book combines excellent dialogue, a complex plot, likable
characters, believable psychology, sparkling humor, and valuable life
lessons into 49 brief pages. Featuring large, easy-to-read type and
highlighted by Cathcart’s whimsical black-and-white illustrations,
Shoot for the Moon, Robyn is a captivating early-reading experience that
touches on many of the issues that are close to the heart of the
primary-age reader. Above all, it’s fun. Highly recommended.