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Where Is My Balloon?

by Ariel BERNSTEIN
Where Is My Balloon? illus. by Scott Magoon. 40p. S. & S./Paula Wiseman Bks. Jan. 2019. Tr $17.99. ISBN 9781534414518.
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PreS-Gr 2—Magoon (Misunderstood Shark) brings his distinctive digital cartoon style to Bernstein's follow-up tale to I Have a Balloon. Owl entrusts his red balloon to Monkey, who's delighted with his own treasure—a sock bearing a red star and a "perfectly shaped hole." Asked to hold Owl's prized balloon, Monkey experiments using both treasures, such as hitting the balloon with his sock, which unfortunately causes it to burst. When Owl returns, Monkey asks his friend to hold the sock as he attempts to pass off various red things as the defunct balloon. Monkey finally comes clean about the accident and Owl has a brief meltdown before expressing forgiveness. Monkey offers to have his friend join him in sock play but Owl has obviously misplaced it since he briefly disappears and returns wearing a cowboy hat with a red star and a hole.
VERDICT The circular story is comic from beginning to end and is an engaging read-aloud, especially since it has some fun sound effects.
Reviewed by Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA , Mar 01, 2019

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