Through the Looking Glass Children's Book Reviews
Maple & Willow Apart
Picture Book Series
For ages 5 to 7
Penguin, 2015 ISBN: 978-0399167539
Maple and her little sister Willow have had a wonderful summer, with days packed with adventures, games, and good times. It is now the last day of the season and they play “together extra hard” because soon Maple will be going to “big-girl school.”
On the big day Maple gets onto the school bus and is gone and Willow soon finds out that her home isn’t “the same without Maple.” The strange thing is that things aren’t the same when Maple comes home either. All Maple can do is to talk about what her day in kindergarten was like, who she met, and what she did. Willow does not have much to say about her day, so she informs her sister that she has a new friend called Pip. Apparently Pip has a bumpy head and he does not like squirrels.
On Tuesday and Wednesday the sisters follow the same pattern. As soon as she gets home Maple tells Willow about her day at school and Willow tells Maple about the adventures that she had with Pip.
On Thursday Maple is not as happy as she has been in the morning when she leaves for school and is quiet when she gets home. It turns out that Willow is not the only one who is missing having Maple at home.
Children’s lives are constantly changing as they have new experiences, and as they grow these experiences often complicate things. In this book a big sister goes to school for the first time and her life, and the life of her little sister, has to adjust. The children have to get used to being apart, and what is interesting it is that Willow, the younger at-home child, is the one who finds a solution to the problems that the sisters encounter.
