Four self-contained chapters in this liberally illustrated transitional reader continue the sibling adventures begun with Annie and Simon.
The book starts with a humorous and informative chapter ("Living Things") set during a morning at Pickerel Lake. Annie's "big, big brother" Simon searches for creatures through his binoculars, while Annie sees a splash right in front of her. She thinks it's a frog, and picks up her crayon to draw one. Their spottings and Annie's drawings lead to Simon sharing facts about frogs, crayfish (when it loses a claw, "a new one grows back in its place") and other living things. In "The Sneeze," Annie offers to read Simon a story about a girl who has her appendix out and "all her friends bring her flowers" (the yellow-and-black illustrations hint at Bemelmans's Madeline); Annie worries that Simon is catching a cold after he sneezes repeatedly. In a charming turn-of-events characteristic of the stories' endings, Annie confesses, "I can't really read yet," so Simon reads the book to her. In the third story, "Hazel, Hazel, Hazel," young readers learn about many of the differences between cats and dogs, when the neighbor's Gray Cat visits their yard; and in the last story, how squirrels prepare for winter.
Catharine O'Neill conveys the affection between the siblings and their dachshund, Hazel, through her warm watercolor illustrations. Pictures that bleed into two pages show Annie's environment, while vignettes convey her strong mutual bond to Hazel and to Simon. Here's to further adventures from this winsome family. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness