Lilly Plays Her Part

Alison Mews is co-ordinator of the Centre for Instructional Services at
Memorial University of Newfoundland.

Because she’s a good singer, Lilly is chosen to be Gretal in the
school play. Unfortunately, she towers over Hansel and is devastated
when the teacher asks her to switch roles with her friend Minna, who is
having trouble cackling like a witch. After a few false starts, Lilly
begins to enjoy her new role and delivers a starring performance as the
wicked witch, learning much about teamwork in the process.

In this and her two previous books about Lilly, Brenda Bellingham has
reduced her vocabulary, simplified her sentence structure, and increased
the amount of dialogue. The result is a fast-paced and undemanding read.
While the book is too brief for in-depth characterization, Lilly and her
friends do have distinct personalities and their verbal exchanges are
both realistic and humorous. Children will relate to Lilly’s emotional
responses to the changing circumstances, from her initial elation at
being chosen and her angry disappointment with the role switch to her
unabashed pride in her performance. As in other books in the series, the
format consists of short, numbered chapters; large text with plenty of
white space; and an abundance of full-page cartoon drawings. First
Novels give newly independent readers confidence to move from picture
books to chapter books. Recommended.