The Horn Book Guide

PICTURE BOOKS

Babbitt, Natalie

Elsie Times Eight

32 pp. | Hyperion | September, 2001 | Trade ISBN 0-7868-0900-0 $$15.95

(2) K-3 Elsie's mama is misheard by the little girl's godmother, an accommodating, but rather deaf, fairy. After she quadruples Elsie and then doubles her error, there's just one cat to cuddle, one bed to sleep in, but now eight Elsies to quarrel loudly amongst themselves. In the lively compositions, realistic characters enact the comic events in a pastoral long ago. Best is the cheerful narration, with its funny, unexpected turns.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2002