We're Growing Together - Hardcover

Ages 4-6. This picture book confronts a common problem today--how a child reacts to a stepfather coming into the family. In this case, the young narrator and her sister have several adjustments to make. They are moving to a big house in the country, where there are few playmates for the girls. As time passes, the narrator sees that while having her stepfather around feels strange at times, he adds something to the family dynamics. Whether she's going with him to feed the pigs, or he's teaching her to write her name or plant flowers, she comes to feel that he is an integral part of her life. Stepchildren will easily understand all the muddle of feelings that come with the entry of a new parent into the household, and this is the story's main attraction. The watercolor art is attractive when showing figures and landscapes, but faces are stiffly drawn, detracting from the overall appeal. Bibliotherapy in a pleasant package. Ilene Cooper

A little girl describes the year or so after her mother's remarriage, in incidents that signify her growing relationship with her stepfather. At first, Howard isn't used to children; he puts too much food on her plate, and she gets a stomach ache when he doesn't think to ration the cashews. But as time passes and things are shared--their birthday party, a walk to gather acorns for the pigs, a difficult task like shelling limas, choosing and planting seeds--a bond forms, and strengthens, until the child is happy that Howard will be her daddy ``forever.'' Ransom has skillfully selected events that dramatize the unforced evolution of an uneasy new relationship into a comfortable, affectionate one; Wright-Frierson's realistic paintings aren't especially subtle, but they're cheerful, bright, and nicely expressive. Likable and useful. (Picture book. 3-7) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.