The Red Jacket

Embodying a Charlie Brown mien, Bob the seagull wanders off solo while the rest of the seagull gang hangs out gabbing. Subsequent vignettes show the bird longing to join a pile-up of crabs and looking on enviously at a cozy readaloud. When an upbeat bird dressed in a flashy red jacket walks by and sees Bob’s slumped posture, it makes an offer: “Would you like a red jacket?” Asked why, the bird replies, “I no longer need it.” Holt (the Bob Holt Celebrates series) tells the story in handwritten speech balloons, spindly cartoon lines, and saturated hues. The bird hands the jacket over (“There are fries in the pockets,” it says), Bob is delighted, and things start to change. Is it the jacket and fries, or Bob’s newly bolstered sense of self? “Let’s grab tea sometime,” he says to a seal; “Sure, Bob,” the seal says back, “that would be great.” When Bob loses the jacket, its return makes him appreciate his wealth of relationships, and he soon welcomes a chance to let it work its magic on someone else. Examining the bond between self-regard and friendship, this wish-fulfillment fantasy gets extra power from a vision of non-attachment to a desirable object. Ages 4–8. (July)