Levert's (Island in the Soup
) story takes place entirely along the vertical axis; the book opens up, not out, and the outsize Eddie Longpants stretches from the top of the page to the bottom. Levert's softly rounded illustrations and simple text temper the book's familiar subject matter: bullying. Eddie, a shy boy in striped trousers and suspenders, towers over his schoolmates, and his nemesis, Pete, taunts him constantly: "Giraffe alert!" A sad-looking Eddie in four-legged giraffe trousers and a pair of droopy ears appears in a word balloon coming from Pete's mouth. When Eddie's even larger mother comes for a visit—and Eddie's teacher, Miss Snowpea, runs up to the roof so she can look Mrs. Longpants in the eye—Pete makes fun of her, too. Miss Snowpea sizzles with indignation (around her head swirls a big, black cloud of hammers, lightning bolts and other wrathful objects) but the tearful Eddie does not think of vengeance. Pete, stuck high in a tree, is surprised to be rescued by the very boy he's been taunting. "You're a big guy, that's for sure," Pete says, perched on Eddie's shoulders. "But your heart is even bigger." It's a sweetly humorous portrayal of loving kindness, of adults coming decisively to the defense of children, and of a teacher willing to accommodate differences. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)
