Heat Wave

by Eileen Spinelli, Betsy Lewin (Illustrator)

Overview

The mercury is climbing in Lumberville, and the folks are doing everything they can to keep cool. Officer McGinnis spends the day in a cold bath, Lottie Mims does her housework in her bathing suit, and Abigail and Ralphie Blue sell ice cubes. When the temperature refuses to relent, the entire community seeks solace by the river—where everyone dreams of cool relief.

A cast of quirky characters and lots of playful details from two celebrated picture-book talents make this heat wave look like fun!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780547564296
Publisher:	HarperCollins Publishers
Publication date:	07/01/2007
Sold by:	HARPERCOLLINS
Format:	eBook
Pages:	32
Lexile:	AD610L (what's this?)
File size:	19 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

EILEEN SPINELLI is the author of many books for children, including the bestselling Somebody Loves You, Mr. Hatch and the critcally acclaimed Sophie's Masterpiece: A Spider's Tale. She lives in Pennsylvania.
BETSY LEWIN is the heralded illustrator of Duck for President; Giggle, Giggle, Quack; and the Caldecott Honor-winning Click, Clack, Moo: Cows That Type, all written by Doreen Cronin. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.

What People are Saying About This

Kirkus Reviews

“As lovely an evocation of one community as one could hope to see.” (starred review)

School Library Journal

“A spirited and evocative look back in time.” (starred review)

Editorial Reviews

From the opening lines ("Sun sizzled. Hair frizzled"), Spinelli (Summerhouse Time) jauntily establishes the theme for this tale of one sweltering week in the town of Lumberville, long before the advent of air conditioners. Beginning on a blistering Monday, the day-by-day chronicle reveals how residents cope. Abigail Blue and her brother Ralphie open a lemonade stand, but two days later "forgot about the lemonade and just sold ice." Lottie Mims takes four cold showers one day and on the next "wore her bathing suit to clean house." Caldecott Honor artist Lewin's (Click, Clack, Moo) amusing assemblage of brush, ink and watercolor images portray the resourceful ways the townsfolk try to beat the heat. On Saturday night, "everyone-whether in a bed or on a rooftop or on a fire escape or in a tent or near the river-everyone... had the exact same dream." A spread depicting that dream rounds up playful portraits of the smiling citizens frolicking in the rain. A power outage may be the closest modern readers come to a similar experience, but they (and nostalgic parents) should nonetheless appreciate this good-natured tribute to summer at its hottest. Ages 3-7. (July)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Publishers Weekly

K-Gr 3
Before stores, businesses, and homes had air conditioners, the residents of Lumberville had to get creative during a heat wave. The "sun sizzled. Hair frizzled" as sweltering day after day began. Townspeople, kids, and dogs try a variety of ways to cool down and finally all camp out on the riverbank dreaming of a break in the weather. Stark white pages provide the perfect backdrop for fresh, vivid watercolor cartoons, with the final page displaying splashes of refreshing blue raindrops. While the story is simple and straightforward, the sun-drenched illustrations provide a spirited and evocative look back in time.
—Judy ChichinskiCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal

"Sun sizzled. Hair frizzled." As the Lumberville heat wave descends, day by day its population does its best to adapt, in this sweet evocation of the time before air conditioning. The movie theater closes, Lottie Mims vacuums in her bathing suit, "[the] Pettibone sisters put their perfume and makeup in the icebox." On the hottest night yet, the community heads to the riverbank with pillows and blankets to seek some relief. Spinelli's simple, declarative text touches on each character in turn, describing how they cope-children, adults and animals, one by one. Lewin's signature illustrations form a series of vignettes against white space, extracting gentle humor from each situation. Dusty yellows and browns dominate her washed-out palette, punctuated by the occasional soothing blue of relative cool. Each quickly drawn figure demonstrates mastery of body language, limp limbs and frazzled hair expressing all. The healing rain comes in a town-wide dream, as joyous splashes of blue ink bathe the citizens of Lumberville in a welcome moisture readers will feel as fully as the characters. As lovely an evocation of one community as one could hope to see. (Picture book. 3-8)

Kirkus Reviews