Brownie & Pearl Step Out - Cynthia Rylant

Illustrated by Brian Biggs
Beach Lane Books, 2010
24 pages
$12.99
No Dustcover - endpapers are bright pink (If this takes $4-5 off a cover price, who needs a dust cover?)

Simple verse. Too simple. It almost reads like a Dick and Jane primer. I love Cynthia Rylant's words, her voice - but this needs a little bit of word-snazzing.

"Brownie likes the party.
She plays games.
She eats cake.
She eats ice cream.
She eats more ice cream."
.....and that's four pages long!

The illustrations are fun - very pink and green and girly. Simple faces show expression, I like 'em.

Quick synopsis: A little girl, Brownie, and her cat, Pearl, go to a birthday party. She's a little shy and almost doesn't knock, but Pearl goes through the kitty door so she knocks, enters, and has fun.