Mannie and the Long Brave Day - Hardcover

Martine Murray is the author of Henrietta, There's No One Better and The Slightly True Story of Cedar B. Hartley. Sally Rippin is the Crichton Award–winning author and illustrator of more than 20 books for young readers, including Chenxi and the Foreigner.

PreS-Gr 2–Setting out for a day of adventure, Mannie collects her doll, a shy elephant, and a box “full of secret things.” As she starts out, she stops to answer the narrator's question: “Wait a minute! What's in the box?” Mannie pulls out tiny “sparkly shoes” for her doll, “Strawberry Luca.” In a fashion reminiscent of “Going on a Bear Hunt,” the trio creeps through tall trees, splashes through rivers, and stomps up hills. The suitcase continues to provide surprises for the journey, including “a serious explorer hat” and a “famous stripy umbrella” in which to sail. The delightfully unexpected language adds to the fun. When a storm becomes threatening, Lilliput the elephant pulls a ladder from the box. Climbing up to the sun, she heroically pushes the clouds away with her trunk. As the explorers head home in the purple twilight, they tiptoe along rooftops, and soon they are asleep in bed. Rippin's softly hued watercolor washes create a dreamy quality.–Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ontario, Canadaα(c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.