Hurry Down to Derry Fair

PreS-Gr 2—Dinny Brown can't wait to go to the county fair, but Mama, Daddy, and Sister Lucy need to finish their preparations before they can leave. Dinny hurriedly helps Mama whisk the eggs for her lemon pies, stacks the wood that Daddy chops, and helps Lucy brush her show animals, but they are still too slow for the impatient boy. When he tells Grandma Patty to hurry, she agrees, and off they go down the road while the rest of the family follows. When they arrive at the fair, flaps on both sides of the final spread open to reveal a four-page scene that incorporates the Derry Fair preview pictures shown earlier in the book. Chaconas establishes a jaunty rhyme and rhythm as Dinny appeals to the first three family members. Tyler's pattern of fair pictures and farm action scenes perfectly mirrors the text as they depict farm life and Dinny's excitement. The homey scenes softly rendered in watercolor and ink on cream-colored paper give the book an old-fashioned feel. Children will enjoy poring over the detailed illustration of the fairgrounds. A pleasant choice.—Martha Simpson, Stratford Library Association, CT