Uma Wimple Charts Her House

Uma loves to make charts, and Gibson (The Ghastly Dandies Do the Classics) shows her efforts in elementary school–style drawings: “When I was five, I made a chart of all the trees I passed on the way to school.” There are more: a pizza pie chart of her family’s topping preferences, a screen-time bar chart (her father exceeds the recommended number of hours). Pastel digital artwork with clean lines portrays the large white family that Larsen (I Am Radar, for adults) writes about: Uma, her parents, three brothers, and multiple pets. One day, Uma announces a new project—a strangely unclear “chart of our own home.” But Uma is anxious instead of thrilled, unclear on how to “chart something so big, so important, so complicated.” Tension accumulates as she asks her family what “makes a house housey,” resulting in a meltdown that Lukey, her younger brother, talks her down from. “Nothing is impossible,” he says, which is enough to get her going. As an introduction to the visual presentation of data and the creative process, it’s a useful classroom adjunct. End papers include chart definitions and examples. Ages 4–8. [em](May) [/em]