Benito's Dream Bottle

(LSC 530)

DePaola, Tomie. 26 Fairmount Avenue. New York: G.P. Putnams Sons, 1999.

Tomie's family is living in an apartment while they wait for their new house to  be finished. Things go awry when the builder and Tomie's father have a disagreement. DePaola describes the realities of (his family) life gently, but directly.

            "I put...'Nana Downstairs' and 'Nana Fall River' by the kitchen. That way they didn't have far to go.

            (I didn't draw 'Nana Upstairs' because she had died and gone to heaven a few months before.)"*

With some books a reader's will response to the story will show that he understands the characters; that he's walked in his shoes. Any child who has

had to move to a new home, any reader who has had to wait for a long time for some long-awaited event will laugh with Tomie. This book reflects

the reality many families face in our increasingly mobile society.

* Single quotes added by the reviewer.