Maybe She Forgot

It's bound to happen at least once per childhood: a parent is late picking up a child from some activity, and that child is sure he or she has been abandoned. Kandoian picks up on this universally experienced fear in a sweetly told, expressively illustrated story. At the end of Jessie's first dance class, the other children's parents arrive to collect them one by one, until only a tearful Jessie remains. Meanwhile, readers have been made privy to the string of unforeseen events (a traffic jam, a flat tire) that prevent Jessie's mother from arriving on time. Of course mother and daughter are happily reunited in the end, and Jessie's mother assures her that she could never forget her. Neither didactic nor saccharine, Kandoian's story calms youngsters and clarifies a common situation fraught with anxiety. Ages 3-7. (Sept.)