Gina

Gina is understandably disappointed when she discovers that no other girls her age live in her new apartment building. ""Yet, and more oddly still,/ there were boys, boys, boys galore,/ boys, boys, boys-Gina's age,/ on every floor."" After a lengthy, breezily illustrated roll call of the young males in Gina's building, Waber (the Lyle the Crocodile books) shows how they all have a grand time hanging out together, while ""Day after day, Gina played all alone./ No friends rang her bell, or called on the phone."" One day, Gina mentions that she ""could throw,"" and the boys give her a chance to prove it. She does that handily and goes on to show her prowess in batting, biking, climbing trees-and even standing up to bullies. ""Gina made many friends that day./ Her whole life changed in every way./ Moving to the apartment was no longer a bummer./ Gina began having fun, fun, fun that summer."" Waber offsets the randomness of his rhythms and his frequently forced rhymes with the domesticated daffiness of his action-packed watercolors, served up here in panels, whole pages and quick vignettes. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)