November Boots

Frances Emery is an editor and writer living in Nepean, Ontario.

Visually, this is an extremely appealing book, and I am delighted to see
that the illustrator, Marilyn Mets, is given equal billing, on the cover
at least, with the author. Her watercolors are simply beautiful. I would
buy the book just for them.

But who is its intended audience? Our resident 4-year-old loved the
pictures, and so did her dad, but they both found the words rather
boring: “It’s November. The trees shiver. The birds shake. And my
red rain boots haven’t splashed in a single drop. So where’s the
rain?” I found some of the verbal images confusing. But some are
pleasingly evocative: “I stab the pile with one red toe, the top
leaves fly, light and dry.”

The book’s format—only 24 pages, half of them illustration—seems
geared to the very young child, yet the language is quite sophisticated.
Would an older child appreciate it? Or would it offer too thin a story
line? Perhaps the lovely paintings alone would please any age.
Recommended with reservations.