An Ordinary Day

It's an ordinary day in the life of a boy and his friends and family. The boy greets the day from his bedroom window in a magnificent Victorian house. The beautiful and clear morning is the time for discovering plants and animals in the yard. Boating by the river ends abruptly when a thunderstorm hits but a glorious rainbow heralds the lovely evening ahead. The boy's mother makes soup and cookies for the children. In the evening, they enjoy the stars and fireflies; the ordinary yet idyllic day comes to an end at bedtime. The sentiments behind the story are sweet, but the way the text conveys them is simplistic and dull. Ayers (the illustrator of Jennifer's Rabbit ) creates gentle, color-filled pictures, although certain details from the text do not correspond to the illustrations (it is hard to find the ants gathering food, for example, and the cookies appear to be chocolate chip, not sugar). Ages 3-6. (May)