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*Heat Wave* by Eileen Spinelli, illustrated by Betsy Lewin
 
Also by Eileen Spinelli:

Today I Will: A Year of Quotes, Notes, and Promises to Myself

Princess Pig

Summerhouse Time
Heat Wave
by Eileen Spinelli, illustrated by Betsy Lewin
Ages 3-6 32 pages Harcourt Julyy 2007 Hardcover    

Air conditioning hasn’t been invented yet in the little town of Lumberville, where the sun is being way too generous.

The heat is front-page news in the Lumberville Post. No one needs to tell the citizens what the temperature is, though - they can feel it. Everyone in town deals with the heat in their own way. The children can have fun in the heat with garden hoses and tin washtubs, but the adults have to work. The Green Door Restaurant changes its menu to complement the heat, and the police officer decides to spend his break in some refreshing bubbles. There is even a citizen in Lumberville doing housework in a bathing suit. Maybe Abigail Blue and her brother Ralphie know what the workers of Lumberville need the most - and it’s only three cents for the citizens to buy.

As the week gets hotter, some people improvise new uses for magazines, aprons, kerchiefs, and cold linoleum flooring. Anything to keep cool! But the nights are the worst when there is a heat wave. Fortunately, there is one place in Lumberville providing a little bit of relief from the heat, and on Saturday, this is where most people gather to sleep. There are those who remain behind, though, sleeping on rooftops, on fire escapes, and in tents. But no matter where the people of Lumberville spend the night, they dream the same - well, except for the cat! By the look of the morning newspaper the next day, dreams do come true in this town.

Betsy Lewin is known for her illustrations in Dooby, Dooby, Moo and Click Clack, Moo: Cows That Type. She illustrated Heat Wave with ink and watercolors. The colors in this story reflect the temperature on every page. Fiery reds, oranges and yellows remind readers the heat is ever-present. They surround the mail carrier as he does his morning rounds. They glow over the man lying in his hammock and over the woman napping beneath her umbrella. Even behind the closed doors of the Green Door Restaurant, the radiating colors can be seen outside the front windows. The cooler places in this story are colored in blue, showing up in the shadowy spots, water scenes, and nighttime sights.

Lumberville has old cars parked in the streets. The bathtub, town clock, police uniform, radio, oven, and ice box are all from times past. It’s nice to see these in places other then museums. There is also a cat in this story that I found myself keeping an eye on as I was reading, and one illustration in particular made me chuckle: Charley’s backyard tent construction.

Eileen Spinelli lives in Pennsylvania with one of my favorite authors, Jerry Spinelli. Her books, which include Hero Cat and Something to tell the Grandcows, may never have been written if her dad hadn’t given her an old typewriter when she was six years old. That is when she decided to be a writer.

Although it doesn’t get this hot where I live, Eileen Spinelli’s story has me comprehending what the citizens of Lumberville are going through.



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  Tanya Boudreau/2007 for curled up with a good kid's book  






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