Amanda Pig and Her Best Friend Lollipop

by Jean Van Leeuwen, Ann Schweninger (Illustrator)

Overview

Amanda and Lollipop love playing make-believe at Amanda's house, but Amanda would rather go over to Lollipop's. Except when Amanda finally gets to sleep over at her best friend's house, she realizes that maybe she really does like her own home best.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780140379990
Publisher:	Penguin Young Readers Group
Publication date:	07/01/2000
Series:	Penguin Young Readers Level 3 Series
Edition description:	Reprint
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.21(d)
Lexile:	240L (what's this?)
Age Range:	6 - 8 Years

About the Author

Jean Van Leeuwen is the author of more than fifty children's books, including picture books, Easy-to-Read books, and middle-grade fiction. Ms. Van Leeuwen now lives in another small town north of New York City with her husband, Bruce Gavril. She has two grown children, David and Elizabeth, and a young grandchild, who will surely inspire more stories. 

Editorial Reviews

PreS-Gr 2--Four delightful stories featuring these porcine pals. When Lollipop comes to visit, she is so shy that she will only whisper into Amanda's ear. A fall from a swing and Mother's comforting arms help the little pig to open up. In the second story, the companions play with their dolls and Lollipop breaks through her shyness to defend their toys against Amanda's older brother. In another chapter, Amanda likes Lollipop's house much better than her own; she especially likes playing with her friend's baby sister. In the final episode, Amanda is frightened during a sleepover at Lollipop's and calls her father to come and get her. The simple language captures the warmth and caring between these two friends. The dialogue is realistic and playful, as Amanda unintentionally comes up with rhyming phrases ("This is the very best day....Lollipop is coming to play"). The appealing watercolor and colored-pencil illustrations depict situations that will seem familiar to children. A comfortable, reassuring book for beginning readers.--Janet M. Bair, Trumbull Library, CT

School Library Journal

Amanda Pig continues her move out into the wider world, as her friendship with shy classmate Lollipop (introduced in Amanda Pig, Schoolgirl) leads to reciprocal play dates and then to Amanda's first attempted sleep-over. Situations are funny, or touching, but always true-to-life, and a reassuringly warm tone (broken up nicely by some characteristic rambunctiousness on Oliver's part) prevails. Amanda is as engaging a character as ever, here taking on a Frances-like quality with her spontaneous poems: "'Today is the best day,' she sang. `Lollipop is coming to play.'" Lollipop won't talk at first, communicating all her responses to Mother's questions by whispering to Amanda. When she falls out of a swing and hurts herself, she still whispers-but this time to Mother, who oh-so-comfortingly kisses her knee and makes it all better. Amanda loves Lollipop's house: she has a purple room, lots of dress-up clothes, and, best of all, a baby sister. Amanda tries to teach Lulu how to say her big sister's name ("`Look, Lulu,' she said. `Lolly. Pop.' `Oopy doop,' said Lulu"), but Lulu ends up learning Amanda's name instead. As usual, Van Leeuwen ends on a note of surpassing warmth and family closeness: Amanda, unsettled by an unfamiliar bed and a "monster" tree scratching at the window, changes her mind about sleeping over at Lollipop's. As she explains to Father, "I like Lollipop's house in the daytime. But at night I like my own house."

Horn Book Magazine

In this entry in the Easy-to-Read series, ebullient Amanda Pig (Oliver and Amanda and the Big Snow, 1995, etc.) discovers that independence can be scary. With new best friend Lollipop, Amanda spends a day playing at home, another outside with their toy "babies," and another at Lollipop's house, in her grand purple room. A sleepover takes an Edward-the-Unready turn (Edward's Overwhelming Overnight, 1995) and Amanda phones home, with the wish to be in her own bed at night. Amanda's neighborhood is filled with understanding and loving adults, while Schweninger's colorful pastel illustrations reinforce the overall tone of warmth and predictability of the text. Van Leeuwen creates a comfortable world of safety and security in this feel-good, reassuring book. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews