San Marcos Public Library

The Hello, Goodbye Window

by Norton Juster

School Library Journal PreS-Gr 1-The window in Nanna and Poppy's kitchen is no ordinary window-it is the place where love and magic happens. It's where the girl and her doting grandparents watch stars, play games, and, most importantly, say hello and goodbye. The first-person text is both simple and sophisticated, conjuring a perfectly child-centered world. Sentences such as "When I get tired I come in and take my nap and nothing happens until I get up" typify the girl's happy, imaginative world. While the language is bouncy and fun, it is the visual interpretation of this sweet story that sings. Using a bright rainbow palette of saturated color, Raschka's impressionistic, mixed-media illustrations portray a loving, mixed-race family. The artwork is at once lively and energetic, without crowding the story or the words on the page; the simple lines and squiggles of color suggest a child's own drawings, but this is the art of a masterful hand. Perfect for lap-sharing, this book will find favor with children and adults alike.-Angela J. Reynolds, Washington County Cooperative Library Services, Hillsboro, OR Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly Juster (The Phantom Tollbooth) crafts a cozy portrait of a grandchild and her grandparents in this endearing book, illustrated in paintbox colors by Raschka (Be Boy Buzz). A curly haired girl-who dances with wiggly energy in Raschka's lush paintings-describes playful visits to her Nanna and Poppy, whose kitchen window provides the perfect venue to say hello and goodbye. "You can climb up on the flower barrel and tap," she says, "then duck down and they won't know who did it." Her grandparents welcome her into a sunlit, spacious kitchen filled with plants, where she doodles and listens to Poppy play "Oh, Susannah" on the harmonica. At night, the "Hello, Goodbye Window" functions as a mirror, and the girl jokes about being outside looking in: "Poppy says, `What are you doing out there? You come right in and have your dinner.' And I say, `But I'm here with you, Poppy,' and then he looks at me in his funny way." Juster departs from the over-the-top punning of his earlier works to create a gently humorous account of a family's conversations and games, all centered on the special window. Raschka warms the pages with glowing yellow, emerald, sapphire and golden brown, and he pictures the garden and trees in emphatic midsummer greens. The characters smile at one another with a doting twinkle in their eyes, and grandparents especially will be charmed by this relaxed account of how a child's visit occasions everyday magic. Ages 2-up. (Apr.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.

Book list PreS-Gr. 2. Two well-known names come together in a book that speaks to the real lives of children and their experiences. The young narrator visits her grandparents, Nanna and Poppy, in their big house. They explore Nanna's garden, and Poppy plays his harmonica. The narrator rides her bike and takes a nap, and nothing happens till I get up. Looking out the picture window, the hello, goodbye window, she sees the pizza guy, and, more fancifully, a dinosaur. She also spots her parents coming to pick her up. The curly-haired girl is happy to see them, but sad because it means the end of the visit. The window imagery is less important than the title would make it seem. More intrinsic is Juster's honest portrayal of a child's perceptions (a striped cat in the yard is a tiger) and emotions (being happy and sad at the same time just happens that way sometimes ). Raschka's swirling lines, swaths, and dabs of fruity colors seem especially vibrant, particularly in the double-page spreads, which have ample room to capture both the tender moments between members of the interracial family and the exuberance of spending time in the pulsating outdoors, all flowers, grass, and sky. --Ilene Cooper Copyright 2005 Booklist

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