A little boy yearns for a lunch box, even though he hasn't started school yet.

PreSchool-Grade 1 A black girl is beginning first grade and getting all sorts of goodies, in particular a lunch box for which her little brother yearns with a single-minded passion. However, his mother says that he must wait until he starts school. This rather slim plot is fleshed out through a sequence in which the narrator dreams of a brightly-colored, imaginatively-shaped lunch box for each weekday. At last, on his sister's first day of school, their father surprises the boy with a spaceship lunch box of his own. Brightly patterned objects such as shoes, school supplies, marbles, animals, and of course decorated lunch boxes float through the vividly-colored pages. The simple text makes the story suitable for preschoolers. The drama of family relationships is honestly portrayed, although the issue of whether the father has contradicted the mother, which may bother some parents, is buried in the happy ending. Leda Schubert, Vermont Department of Education, Montpelier
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.