Waldo's Back Yard

Dave Jenkinson is a professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Manitoba and the author of the “Portraits” section of Emergency Librarian.

A variation on the Mr. Wilson-Dennis the Menace theme. Old Mr. Tester becomes increasingly testy about the eyesore being created in the back yard next door by Waldo and his friends. Waldo’s grassless yard, with the unfinished tree house, tire swing, and a pit to trap animals, is in jarring opposition to Mr. Tester’s immaculate lawn and perfect garden. As Mr. Tester’s ire rises, he erects a fence both to prevent Elizabeth, Waldo’s best friend, from taking a short cut across his lawn and to mask the messy back yard. One day Waldo falls from his tree house into the pit and breaks his arm. Elizabeth seeks Mr. Tester’s assistance only to have him collapse (a heart attack?). Elizabeth phones “Emergency”; Waldo and Mr. Tester are taken to hospital. When Waldo returns with a cast and Mr. Tester with pills to control his nerves, a change occurs. Waldo cleans up the yard, and Mr. Tester removes a portion of his fence and actually joins the children in a game of hide and seek. The picture of the grumpy old man and the unintentionally annoying children is believable, but the double transformation in behavior at the book’s conclusion happens too quickly.

Day’s illustrations, principally a mixture of watercolors and pencil sketches, quite adequately carry the story line. The book is well designed, with illustrations and text being combined in a number of ways to offer preschool “readers” and primary grade children much visual variety.