"Take Care of Things," Edward Said

I decided to judge this book by the cover and purchased it for my son who was thrilled by the site of school busses. What I found inside was delightful. For younger children, this is a picture book drawn at a child's eye level. It has a bus, 2 dogs, a cat, pet food dishes, blocks, a drum, dinosaurs... so many things to hold a child's attention. It is the simple story of what a child does while his older sibling is away at school.What creeps into the pages is so much more. The illustrations depict a red-haired Edward and a main character, Tom, who appears to be Asian. What a gift for parents of multi racial families to have a book in which diversity needs no explanation. The tender love of adults for the child and of the siblings for each other is heartwarming. Tom is offered assurance and encouragement from parents, from the housekeeper, and, most importantly, from Edward.My 4 year old son loves having it read over and over. And I love reading it.