Sandra Comino, Illustrated by Max, translated by Elisa Amado
Morning Glory
Groundwood Books, 2006

Ages 7-10

There is a point in every child's life when she begins to understand that, despite the appearance of control and stability, adults have at least as much capacity for jumping to conclusions, overreacting and stirring up drama as children do—sometimes even more!  This realization is at the heart of Argentine author Sandra Comino's hilarious tale about one morning in the life of young Ivan and his mother Eulogia that suddenly "stopped being just like every other morning that came around, day in and day out." 

Ivan's habit of contemplating the beautiful morning glory vine in the courtyard (rather than doing his homework) while his mother does the daily shopping is suddenly interrupted when he 'sees what he sees' and, upon seeing it, lets out a scream.  This is 'how the whole schmozzle begins.'

Ivan's scream prompts his mother, just returning from shopping, to scream also, attracting the attention of the neighborhood, which seems to be full of grown-ups even hungrier for excitement than Ivan.  As the neighbors, followed by police, firefighters, ambulance drivers and news crews, flock to Ivan's house, he decides to go upstairs and watch it all on TV.  Meanwhile, his mother is sent downtown on a bureaucratic goose-chase, his father arrives home for lunch and, finding police and news crews where he expected to find his family, immediately assumes the worst.

Children will surely roll their eyes and laugh at the silly adults wreaking so much havoc over nothing.  They will also learn how easily misunderstanding can spread when people don't take time to get all the facts before forming a conclusion.  The lighthearted, clear and cartoony illustrations by the award-winning, Spanish illustrator Max are a perfect complement to this wacky narrative of a morning that starts the same but turns out to be very different from all the others!

Abigail Sawyer
November 2006