Home at Last

Lester loves living in his new home with Daddy Rich, Daddy Albert, and their funny old dog, Wincka. Keeping his suitcase packed with his “best action toys” makes Lester feel safe, but every night, he appears by Daddy Rich and Daddy Albert’s bedside. It takes Lester weeks to voice his fears: “What if somebody comes and takes me away right in the middle of the night?” It’s Wincka who finally solves the problem, and she does it so well that Daddy Albert says, “Maybe Wincka should have adopted Lester instead of us.” Full of tender everyday moments, Raschka’s sunny, loosely stroked paintings lull readers into Lester’s new life. The family lives simply in a peaceful neighborhood, they share pancakes in bed on Sundays, and Williams and Raschka embrace the challenges of building a new family (Daddy Albert blows his stack in frustration, and Daddy Rich cries at the sight of one of Lester’s tears), as well as the joys. Williams’s gift was capturing candid moments of pure love, and this, her final story before her death in 2015, offers a string of them. Ages 4–8. [em]Illustrator’s agent: Brenda Bowen, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. (Sept.) [/em]