Two Little Boys from Toolittle Toys

PreS-Gr 3—The secret to the success of the Toolittle Toy Company is the product testing. Young brothers Rudy and Ridley Toolittle spend their weekends making sure that each toy plays well with children. When the boys arrive at work on a particular Saturday morning, the toys are eagerly waiting to play, but Rudy feels that he might be getting too old for that. He decides instead to take them seriously. He sorts, counts, reads about, and takes them apart until he is surrounded by piles of parts with no idea how to put them back together. In the meantime, Ridley has been following his sibling and hoping to help, but Rudy thinks that his little brother can't be of any use. The Toolittle little brother saves the day, of course, creating a satisfying ending to this delightful tale. With cartoonlike illustrations done in colored pencil, graphite, and watercolor, Kirsch has created a magical world that any child would long to get lost in. A catalog at the end identifies the toys that can be searched for throughout the book.—Heather Acerro, Allen County Public Library, Fort Wayne, IN