Amazon.com Review
Much to her parents' chagrin, 5-year-old Ruthie has a devoted invisible friend named Jessica. When Ruthie accidentally spills juice, Jessica gladly takes the blame. When Ruthie's parents plan to hire a baby sitter and go to a movie, Jessica gets a tummy ache and needs them to stay home. "There is no Jessica," her parents keep insisting. "But Ruthie knew there was," the author keeps repeating. Kevin Henkes's Popsicle-colored watercolors and detailed pen-and-ink drawings invite us into Ruthie and Jessica's fantasy world. Through his handwritten cartoon dialogue, we are privy to their tender conversations and confidences. When it's time to start kindergarten, Ruthie's father suggests that Jessica stay home. But of course Ruthie brings Jessica anyway. On that fateful day we discover what Ruthie knew all along--there really is a Jessica! Children who believe in imaginary playmates will find their soul mate in Ruthie. And parents who fret over the isolation of an absorbing imaginary life will find comfort in the story's happy ending. All families will appreciate the twists of fate that allow a child's fantasy world to joyfully overlap into the real one.
School Library Journal Best Book of the Year,
Horn Book Fanfare Honor List, IRA/CBC Children's Choice,
American Bookseller Pick of the Lists. (Ages 3 and older)
--Gail Hudson
From Publishers Weekly
Jessica is the imaginary friend of a girl named Ruthie, whose parents constantly remind her, "There is no Jessica." But Ruthie knows better, and Jessica is included in every aspect of the girl's play. Then Ruthie goes to kindergarten and, despite her parents wishes to the contrary, takes Jessica with her. It's a confusing day, and just as Ruthie's woes are about to be desperately compounded (the children have to choose real partners), a classmate introduces herself as "Jessica." She becomes as close a friend to Ruthie as her imaginary namesake. The story is characteristically on target in its reflections of the inventive ways in which children play; Henkes never falters as he outlines the logic and reasoning behind Ruthie's affection for her invisible playmate. But the denouement seems hasty, especially given all the care that has led up to it. Nevertheless, Henkes's scenes of Ruthie and her two Jessicas are visions of fun (although his people do have a bit of Karen Gundersheimer and Maurice Sendak to their marching stances), and despite the ending, readers will find plenty of pleasure within these pages. Ages 5-up.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.
