Andy & Sandy and the Big Talent Show

Friends Andy and Sandy are back in a fourth installment in the popular series for new readers (starting with Andy & Sandy's Anything Adventure and When Andy Met Sandy, both rev. 3/16). This time, the two friends anticipate entering a talent show. Sandy, it turns out, has many talents: she can juggle, tumble, and hula-hoop. Unfortunately, Andy can't do any of those things. Then Sandy has an idea--the two friends could dance together; all Andy has to do is follow her lead. Andy is a good sport, practicing so hard that he breaks into a sweat and has to remove his signature orange sweater, and soon the friends feel ready for the show. But when the curtain goes up, Sandy's confidence flies out the window. She might be in a special puffy dress and a bird-decorated hat, but she's also wearing a look of terror on her face. And now it's Andy's turn to take the lead: in a series of eight wordless panels he twirls and jazz-hands around the frozen-with-stagefright Sandy in a stellar performance that brings down the house. "Now we take a bow--together!" Simple page layouts, with few words and easy-to-interpret actions in the illustrations, make the text very easy to read for beginning readers. New readers often need encouragement to try new things, and Andy and Sandy are perfect fictional buddies to encourage youngsters to do just that. One can imagine kindergarteners putting on their own talent show, using the pictures and words from this favorite series as the basis for the show. Bravo! robin smith