Grown-Ups, the World, and Me!

In 37 brief essays, a boy reflects on the world around him, contemplating such topics as homelessness, growing up, unemployment, friendship, and family. In an entry titled “Television,” the boy’s family watches a girl cry during a news clip about a country at war, then returns to dinner “as if nothing had happened” (“And the little girl?” the narrator wonders. “Will there be someone there to console her?”). Not every entry is so dire—a section on friendship is more upbeat—but many are (“How sad it is to know so many people, to become friends with them, and then never see them again”). While Paré’s cartoons have a lighthearted charm, and Lazar effectively introduces thought-provoking topics, the sense of ennui and even existential despair the book engenders may prove tough for some children to shake. Ages 9–12. (Feb.)