Liars and Saints

 Faulkner had Yoknapatawpha County; Elizabeth Strout returns again and again to certain fictional parts of Maine. My favorite village is the world of Ezra Jack Keats's imagination. This world seems to be Brooklyn, or something like Brooklyn. You get a hill for sledding, a shadowy area for big kids, a large apartment complex, an alley, a mailbox. That's all you need. The main figure in Keats's world is Peter, a little boy who (famously) stores a snowball in his pocket; storing the snowball will mean "fun on another day." Peter has certain struggles: evading the big mean boys, writing and mailing a letter, learning to whistle, coping with his sister Suzy. Peter also has a compelling sidekick, Archie, whose main drama involves bonding with, then managing, an especially spirited cat. Additionally, there is the mysterious Amy, a friend of Peter's; Peter invites Amy to a party, and this taboo-busting gesture leads to a schoolyard scandal. ("Peter, what are you ...

  Ezra Jack Keats tells memorable stories without preaching, and he invents characters who seem to be people you actually know. "Pet Show" concerns Archie, who would like a ribbon in a local contest. His cat has a mind of its own; the cat has (temporarily) disappeared. This is a moderately high-stakes issue; it's painful to consider life without a ribbon. But the clock is ticking. Necessity is the mother of invention: When it's clear the cat won't turn up on time, Archie thrusts an empty jar at the judges and says, "This is my invisible germ, Al."  I just like the chaos of the setting (which seems to be Brooklyn?) -- and I like Archie's scrappiness. In a final twist, Archie has an opportunity to be greedy, but he instead chooses to be kind. Nothing earth-moving, and Ezra Jack Keats isn't shaking his fists from a pulpit -- but you do remember the final act of kindness. This is a quiet but brilliant book. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T9sQIAkBlq4

 A little sister is a major event, so there is a body of work specifically about "the big sibling acting out." The big sibling can run away--as in "A Baby Sister for Frances." The big sibling can torment his sitter--as in Tomie dePaola's "The Baby Sister." "Peter's Chair," a sequel to "The Snowy Day," has Peter in a rage, because his baby sister, Susie, is soaking up attention. Peter's high chair has been re-purposed; it's now pink. (The book comes from an earlier era, with some rigid ideas about gender. That's not to say that the ideas are now dead.) Peter must shed his crib, his wall-paper; even a "toddler chair" seems to be on the verge of "going pink." Peter grabs it and throws a tantrum outside; it's only then that he discovers he no longer fits in the chair. Something seems to happen between the lines. Peter realizes he is a big boy; he can relinquish the chair. He can also play tricks; ...