cover image Paul and Sebastian

Paul and Sebastian

Rene Escudie. Kane/Miller Book Publishers, $11.95 (29pp) ISBN 978-0-916291-19-8

Paul and his mother live in a green trailer with blue curtains while Sebastian and his mother live in a blue apartment with green curtains. The two mothers look out their windows at the other's home, despising those who live differently than they do and warning their sons about playing together. But when a school picnic in the country is interrupted by a heavy rainstorm, Paul and Sebastian seek shelter in a little red cabin and quickly become friends. A mix-up occurs when the boys are found, much later that night: in the dark, Paul's mother takes home Sebastian and Sebastian's mother takes home Paul. When the boys are restored to their homes, the mothers realize how silly they have been and become friends. In a noncontroversial way, Ecudie introduces the universal problem of prejudice. Both in the text and in the illustrations, the similarities between the two boys and the two mothers are clear, and the reasons for disliking each other are trivial and arbitrary. With Wensell's buoyant scenes of urban life in full color, the story's exaggerations give it broadly comic appeal. Ages 3-6. (Oct.)