Not Now, Sara!

To attention-hungry kids and their frazzled parents, the title of this debut book may sound ruefully familiar. When Sara comes home from school, her mother is too busy to look at the painting she did--as are Grandma, Dad and everyone else. Finally a sympathetic stranger in the park tells the forlorn girl, ``Sometimes you have to wait for just the right time.'' Sure enough, Sara soon discovers the truth in that bit of wisdom. Voigt adds a number of homey touches to her true-to-life narrative--but although these enhance the story's universality, they also slacken the pace. The illustrations manage to be both realistic and stylized as they capture Sara's perspective. She is constantly dwarfed by the adult world around her: at the park, she is tucked, small and lonely, into one corner of the page; at her father's bank, she quizzically observes the somber workplace through a revolving door. The pictures' blended, sherbert-like tones and sponge-painted textures add a rich atmosphere while giving the book a distinctive personality. Ages 5-8. (May)