From Publishers Weekly
Starring in his third volume, the titular guinea pig turns health-care practitioner and storytime savior in Little Whistle's Medicine by Cynthia Rylant, illus. by Tim Bowers. Little Whistle, happily anticipating Soldier's nightly ritual of a bedtime story for the Toytown babies, springs into action when he finds that Soldier is not well.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
From School Library Journal
reschool-Grade 2--Here he is again, the likable guinea pig that lives in a store called Toytown. During the day, he sleeps. Each night, he wakes up, puts on his pea coat, and sets out on a new adventure. Tonight, Little Whistle discovers that his friend, a wooden toy soldier, has bumped his head and is not feeling well enough to read to the baby dolls. Little Whistle volunteers to help Soldier, proclaiming, "there has to be something for sore heads in Toytown. I will find something to make you feel better." Bear offers a hat, and Violet the china doll sings a lullaby. In the end, though, it is the kind mother doll that has the answer, because "Mothers, of course, always know what to do for sore heads." The easy language and short sentences make this adventure accessible to young readers. Bowers's oil-on-canvas illustrations are realistically rendered in warm tones, and the characters are expressive without compromising this realism. While the book won't jump off the shelves, it is an enjoyable tale.
Heather E. Miller, Homewood Public Library, ALCopyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
