Wait and See

Description

32 pages
$4.95
ISBN 1-55037-334-X
DDC jC813'.54

Publisher

Year

1993

Contributor

Illustrations by Michael Martchenko
Reviewed by Steve Pitt

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Review

The combination of writer Robert Munsch and illustrator Michael
Martchenko seems to virtually guarantee a bull’s-eye in the
children’s literature market. This book is no exception. Once again,
Munsch has put together a hilarious text and Martchenko has deftly
captured it in pictures.

Olivia, a young girl, is having a birthday. Her parents give her a
party, complete with birthday cake. Make a wish, they say, as she blows
out the candles. Olivia wishes for snow, even though it is mid-summer.
“It is not going to work,” her parents warn. “Wait and see,”
Olivia replies. Guess who gets her wish? Following the famous Munsch
formula of repeating themes, weird noises, and
parents-at-the-mercy-of-their-children, the story takes the reader from
birthday parties to birthing partners. Olivia makes a series of
improbable wishes. All of them come true.

There is a slightly educational theme of counting to three, but it is
sort of lost in the fun like a whole wheat crust under a party pizza.
Place this book with honor with the rest of the Munsch/Martchenko canon.
Highly recommended.

Citation

Munsch, Robert., “Wait and See,” Canadian Book Review Annual Online, accessed September 20, 2024, https://cbra.library.utoronto.ca/items/show/31398.