Bungalow Fungalow - Hardcover

Pegi Deitz Shea has studied the Hmong people and written about their culture. She lives in Rockville, Connecticut. This is her first novel.

Grade 2-4-- In a series of narrative poems, Billy details his activities while spending a week with his grandparents at their seaside bungalow: playing on the seashore; crabbing with his grandfather; fishing with his father. Although some may cringe at the colloquial speech ("My mask fits OK,/ could use a scrubbin',/ and my boats all float,/they don't need nothin"), the voice is appropriate for a child of this age. Many children will identify with "Boogie Boys," in which Billy learns to surf, while "Bluefish Forever" has an important environmental message (". . . if we don't play by the earth's rules,/ she's not going to play at all"). Sayles's impressionistic illustrations, which appear to be pastel on charcoal paper, are realistic yet impressionistic in style, and capture the boy's enjoyment of the seashore and the time he spends with his family. Unlike Myra Cohn Livingston's Sea Songs (Holiday), which is more esoteric, and Lee Bennett Hopkins's The Sea Is Calling Me (HBJ, both 1986), which covers various subjects, Shea offers a story in verses that children will like, and that will help many adults relive their own childhood memories of summer.
- Andrew W. Hunter, Queens Borough Public Library, NY
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.