Famously, when Fred Rogers was a kid confronted with upsetting scenes in the news, his mother told him to look for the helpers. In that spirit, R.W. Alley presents his Breezy Valley at Work picture-book series, which showcases anthropomorphized animals giving their all to their communities. Following the launch title, Firefighters to the Rescue!, comes the winsomely demystifying Hospital Heroes Save the Day!
Breezy Valley Hospital is a hive of activity. Readers meet the hospital workers: "Greeter Owl makes sure patients and visitors know where to go," "Pharmacist Hippo mixes medicines in the Pharmacy," and so on. Readers also meet the (minutely) injured and bickering Tabby Twins, but the story gets hopping when One-Lemur-Band Lemur arrives: an X-ray shows that his tailbones have popped out of position--"My drum kerplopped on my tail," he explains in one of the book's many dialogue balloons. Fortunately, Doctor Otter can operate, and readers are walked through the surgical basics (operating room, IV, going-to-sleep mask). Lemur mends in time to lead the marchers on Parade Day, his broken drum fixed (with Band-Aids) by hospital staff.
Alley whittles down a hospital's countless moving parts to manageable bite-size bursts of information. His digitally tweaked pencil illustrations are likewise unfussy and deserve the inevitable comparisons to Richard Scarry's Busytown art: basic-colors layouts thrumming with cartoonish characters on the go. As a bonus, Hospital Heroes Save the Day! rewards sharp-eyed readers with gags, as when atop a hospital refrigerator sits a cookie jar alongside the question, "Best medicine?" --Nell Beram, freelance writer and YA author