Growing Up

 We're a few days away from Kevin Henkes's next new book--"Billy Miller Makes a Wish"--so my thoughts have turned to "Penny and Her Sled."

Sometimes, a book simply tells the truth; you read it, and think, this is life as I understand it.

That's the case with Henkes's work. "Penny and Her Sled" has Penny, a small mouse, awaiting snow. She waits and waits. She wants the snow so much, she dreams of it falling and turning into marshmallow pops. She eats the pops; she becomes one with the snow.

Back in the real world, the snow refuses to fall. Penny entertains herself as she waits. Her sled becomes "a bridge for glass animals," a "roof for a hut," a "small cradle for Rose, a doll." (The cradle is a bridge too far. Penny becomes lonely as she tries to go to sleep, so she grabs Rose and says, "You'll never have to sleep alone again....")

Ultimately, the seasons change without a single snowfall--subversive!--and Penny makes do with her imagination. She finds a surrogate--snowdrops--and she puts on her mittens to pretend that these spring flowers are part of a winter wonderland.

So much of childhood is low-drama, and centered on waiting. But Henkes finds a way to make this reality interesting. And his star character is hardly outrageous--but still engaging, and relatable.

Great book.