Beware of the Aunts!

The middle-child narrator has an ordinary enough family until it comes to aunts, of whom there are simply too many, each with some disconcerting trait: one kisses too much, another eats huge amounts; Aunt Zara makes not only her own odd garments but things for her reluctant nieces; there's even one aunt with all the appearance of being a witch. Thomson's wry, succinct text combines nicely with Clark's ebulliently expressive pictures for an amusing survey of idiosyncracies that children find inconvenient or embarrassing. Only the ingenuous greed of the conclusion seems a touch unimaginative: ``You can't have too many aunts at Christmas!'' Still, there's enough lighthearted merriment here (along with the social satire) to make this a worthwhile purchase. (Picture book. 5-8) -- Copyright ©1992, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

PreSchool-Grade 2-- A girl introduces her nine aunts, each of whom has a unique peculiarity. One kisses too much, another overeats, one wears a fur coat all year long, another fusses over housekeeping. And so it goes, as these wacky relatives parade through the family's lives in wild and wide-eyed abandon, culminating in a satisfying orgy of Christmas gift-giving. Understated humor abounds in the story and the artwork. Watercolor paintings of the characters are surrounded by plenty of white space; they all have circles drawn around small black dots for eyes, making everyone seem to be staring. This crowd of very British eccentrics is entertaining and would be right at home with Pinkwater's Aunt Lulu (Macmillan, 1988). --Jacqueline Elsner, Athens Regional Library, GA
Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.