Kevin Henkes, master at conveying the interior life of a child, here introduces Billy Miller, who begins second grade "worried that he wouldn't be smart enough for school this year." Billy has good reason: when his new baseball cap flew off during a visit to the Jolly Green Giant statue, Billy leaned over the guardrail to catch it and wound up in the hospital when he fell and hit his head. Later at home, Billy overhears his mother tell his father that she's worried that "down the line something will show up. He'll start forgetting things."
Henkes's characters always solve their own problems. Billy confides his worry to his teacher, and she tells him he's smart: "That one word said in Ms. Silver's voice made him feel as if he were filled with helium like a balloon and might rise off the floor." In each of four sections, Billy has a conflict to resolve with the most important people in his life: his teacher, his father, his three-year-old sister and his mother. Henkes's incisive writing gets to the heart of a second-grader's thoughts, hopes, worries and dreams. Billy grows from being someone who reacts before he thinks to someone who can sit quietly with his emotions. The spare language leaves room for children to read between the lines of what Billy says and does. They will close this book with renewed confidence that if Billy can steer his way through his life at home and school, they can, too. --Jennifer M. Brown, children's editor, Shelf Awareness