Illustrated by Laura J. Bryant. unpgd. Orchard Books/ Scholastic Inc., January, 2014.9780545244657. (Finished copy courtesy of the publisher for review.)
Patti Cake's first night in her brand new and very pink, big girl room is not what she expected. The "greatly dark" was a bit frightening. The next day, her babysitter takes her to the store to buy a new doll. She chooses a "smudgy" one marked, "on sale," and names her On Sale. She feels a kinship with the doll since she is often smudgy. Patti Cake brings her doll home and her attempts to un-smudge her lead to disaster after disaster thanks in large part to her dog.
The promise of the jaunty cover dominated by purple pink is not quite fulfilled as the story is wordy and a bit awkward. Bella the babysitter seems more a parent than babysitter. I mean, why is she there all day and all night? Expressions such as "greatly dark" seem jarringly, not endearingly precocious.
The artwork is consistently humorous though and the book will find its readership among young girls who like pink books, or who find kinship with Patti Cake's fear of the dark.
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