cover image For Sale: One Brother

For Sale: One Brother

Patti Stren, P. Stren. Hyperion Books, $13.95 (1pp) ISBN 978-1-56282-126-5

Visual exhaustion is likely to set in after perusing just a few pages of this pert book about sibling rivalry. Molly, a big sister aggravated by her four-year-old brother, David, jokingly posts an advertisement offering David for sale. Her mother, unamused, punishes her by forcing her to spend a week's free time with her pesky sibling. Molly acquiesces, but dreams of trading David for a baby gorilla or sending him to Mars; reminders that ``This is only a dream!'' appear in the margins during such fantasies. Only after David runs away (to Molly's bedroom closet) does a worried Molly admit that she cares about him, closing the tale on a credibly kind note. Stren's drawings brim with hyperactive doodles in neon shades. She crowds the page with wispy pen-and-ink cartoons, disorganized calligraphy and stamp-pad graphics--the bold Helvetica typeface used for the text seems intrusive amid the eye-boggling, straggling fray. Although the chaotic compositions accurately communicate Molly's energy and talkativity, few readers will have the patience to dissect them. Ages 5-9. (Sept.)