Pretty Pru

Dunbar, Polly. 2009. Pretty Pru. Candlewick Press.

Pretty Pru is part of Pully Dunbar's oh-so-wonderful Tilly and Friends series. (Read my reviews of Hello Tilly and Happy Hector.)

Pretty Pru is one of my favorite characters, but probably the least that I identify myself with. But that's okay. Because you know why, it is just as important for kids to be able to recognize others (as well as themselves) in the books they read. Who is my Pretty Pru? That would be my sister. Down to the pretty prance even.

In this fun little book, Tumpty, the glasses-wearing elephant, is upset that Pru won't let him play with her things--her makeup and purse to be precise. So when she's not looking, he steals her stuff. And soon Tumpty and the rest of the animals that live with Tilly in the little yellow house--are accomplices after the fact as they've divvied out the goodies among themselves. (Tiptoe has the blush. Doodle the nail polish. Hector the mascara.) As they all deny the facts--as self-evident as they may be--Pru discovers the thief, Tumpty, proudly wearing the purse as a hat. Can Pru be quick to forgive? Can she learn to share? (Should she have to???)

I enjoyed this one. The illustrations are really priceless. They speak louder than the text in conveying the rightness of Dunbar's genius.

© Becky Laney of Young Readers