Nancy No-Size

In a well-rounded plot, the collaboration of Hoffman and Northway has resulted in a truly unified marriage of text and pictures. Nancy isn't old enough to read her older sister's books or young enough for her baby sister's toys. She's also not big enough for a bike and not small enough for a rocking horse; not very tall or very short; not first and not last; but in sort of a no-kids' land. And she's had it. But just as she is ready to assert herself, her parents announce ""Happy Birthday'' in honor of her fifth year. Northway's interpretation of the text complements and enhances the meaning of the words on the page: in a friendly urban neighborhood, kids are playing, and Nancy is taken upstairs to change, bathe and prepare for her birthday celebration. The successive realistic scenes from the life of a middle-class black family are all in ice-cream colors with the familiar shapes and objects of a warm and secure environment. Ages 4-7. (October)