Zelda and Ivy Keeping secrets

K-Gr 3-Newly independent readers will enjoy accompanying irrepressible Zelda and her thoughtful sister, Ivy, through their playtime experiences. First, Zelda tells a secret to neighbor Eugene and then to Ivy, making each of them "woozy-weasel promise" not to tell anyone else. Later, as Eugene and Ivy dig a hole to China, they discuss the fact that Zelda told them each a secret and devise a plan to learn what it was without breaking their promise. In the second chapter, Zelda falls for Ivy's April Fool's comment that her "ears have turned purple" and develops several unsuccessful schemes to retaliate. Finally, as Ivy and Eugene quietly try "to catch a tiger swallowtail" in the backyard, Zelda bursts from the back door "singing opera, and opera is loud." She enlists the other two as supporting characters in her production of Cleopatra, and Ivy and Eugene are delighted when the fluttering butterfly lands on Zelda's nose as she lies still during Cleopatra's death scene. Each page of simple text features a full-color gouache resist picture depicting the expressive cartoon cast in their suburban neighborhood, from climbing trees and digging holes to eating breakfast and walking to the library. Children will enjoy the interactions of the fox sisters in these vignettes of unstructured time.-Laura Scott, Farmington Community Library, MI Copyright 2009 Reed Business Information.

Neighbor Eugene joins fox sisters Zelda and Ivy in two of three episodic chapters about sharing secrets, April Fools' Day pranks, and the effect of opera singing on butterfly chasing. The characters are true to form: older sister Zelda may be bossy, but Ivy and Eugene can hold their own. Kvasnosky's lively illustrations extend the stories. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.