Customer Reviews

Annie and Simon

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

The informal yet evocative water colors and the understated humor perfectly evoke four spacious, timeless summer days spent exploring, learning and making one's own fun. Annie's a charming, engaged, and realistic little girl; Simon is patient and supportive with her, but he's not passive and he's also got his own interests to attend to. He's a role model for older siblings and for parents as well.

I grew up in Michigan and we still go there every summer to visit grandparents. My son and I loved reading this book from the library and I especially enjoyed chapter two with all the written and illustrated images of wildlife in Michigan. This chapter in particular reminded me of many canoe trips in the UP to see turtles, great blue herons, muskrats, water lilies and loons.

The narrative is a reminder for parents and older siblings to listen to little ones without judging. I plan to buy this for my nephew and look forward to seeing him in Michigan this summer and reading him this book.

Sweet book about a playful little sister & doting, patient older brother. My 6 y.o. was quite taken with this simple, gentle book. It gave my 8-1/2 y.o. something to think about too!

Annie wanted to be a hairdresser when she grew up. She loved to fix hair, but Hazel, her dog, didn't have much hair to work on so she asked her big brother Simon if she could work on his. She patted and combed this way and that. Up on the top, out on the sides and FLAT on the back. Now isn't that pretty? "Holy cow!" said Simon. They played cards a bit until they got bored (all the while Hazel was making a pest of herself) and Annie decided to do her own hair at her brother's suggestion. Well, do you know how stuck a comb can get in a girl's hair?

That seemed to be the way things went with Simon and Annie. A little fun, then a lot of disaster! They went on a loon hunt in Pickerel Lake. They paddled around in the canoe and didn't see any loons, but did find a bird's nest for Simon. Whoa, that canoe is some tippy! SPLASH! In her next adventure, which wasn't much fun, she poked at a bug than Hazel was playing with. Guess what? That was no ordinary bug and it bit her. OW! Simon was there to help with a little paste of baking soda and water. Later Simon noticed that there was going to be a meteor shower and thought they should go to the park to watch it. This time there was no real disaster. There was only a bit of fun and a lot of love because Annie and Simon were best of friends!

Each chapter in this book was like a mini story. They were connected by the fact that Annie and Simon, a great brother and sister team, got along well together and did things together, but each story could stand alone. The watercolor art work was bright and cheerful. This would be an excellent story for children who have much older siblings that are patient and loving with their younger ones. This is the perfect story for close knit blended families with children widely spaced in age!

This is the most boring book I think my child has ever brought home from the library. It's long and it's dull and there generally is no story line. It's as if the author has just taken a string of long-winded conversation from her own children and typed it out, as is. Can't figure out what makes it entertaining for children to read. At first I thought it was a word primer to help children read, because the story lacks any sort of imagination or insight.