cover image Henry and Amy: (Right-Way-Round and Upside Down)

Henry and Amy: (Right-Way-Round and Upside Down)

Stephen Michael King, Will C. Howell. Walker & Company, $15.95 (32pp) ISBN 978-0-8027-8686-9

overlong overcoat, Henry can't do anything right. Every time he tries to draw a straight line, for example, ""it turned out wiggly."" Amy, on the other hand, does everything right; she can even write her own name. But there's the rub: ""Deep down, Amy wished everything she did wasn't so perfect."" When Henry and Amy bump into each other, they become fast friends. King's (A Special Kind of Love) premise, that opposites attract, is a sound one, but Henry and Amy seem like abstractions, not real children. Amy is said to teach Henry that ""the sky was up and the ground was down"" and shows him ""his front from his back""; Henry reciprocates with lessons in ""back-to-front and topsy-turvy."" The illustrations show Henry and Amy as button-eyed, spindly-limbed figures--they would be right at home in a Joan Walsh Anglund composition. Ages 3-6. (Apr.)