Great-Uncle Felix

Sam meets his visiting Great-uncle Felix at the bus stop, eager to show off his invention for carrying suitcases. On the way home, they swap family stories and Great-uncle Felix gives the boy his own mother's champion yo-yo; they share memories of Sam's late Great-aunt Rose, who always carried extra peppermints in her purse. Sam's invention, however, is not the success he had hoped for, and he feels terrible: ""I can't do anything right. . . . I wanted to do something for you that nobody else could do. Just me.'' Great-uncle Felix reassures him, ``You already have!. . . you put the great in Great-uncle Felix.'' Cazet's soft watercolors of anthropomorphic animals work perfectly with the sensitive text. Though this delicate sliver of story would have benefited from a bit more content, it remains a quiet and satisfying evocation of intergenerational love and mutual respect. A Richard Jackson Book. Ages 3-6. (March)