Why Can't You Grow Up?

When Angela's older brother says,""You're such a baby, why don't you grow up?'' her answer is to try on too-big high heels, stand on her head, eat till she's sick and dress up in grown-up clothes. Grandad tells her to try waiting. So she does, and the next time we see Angela, she has on blue eye shadow and red high heels, and is wishing she were small again. One lesson in this book is that you always want what you don't have, and another is the value of patience. Neither lesson works well; the last illustrationAngela as a teenageris of a miserable-looking adolescent. The pictures are perky, but one has the feeling that children who read this may well want to stay young forever. (3-7)