That's Exactly the Way It Wasn't

When Mary Ann and Louie can't stop arguing, their parents send them on a walk in another great James Stevenson book about the kids' grandfather and his brother, "Wainey." Explaining their situation, their grandfather and Wainey reminisce about their own experience as young arguing brothers. Told in an extended flashback (though, once again, the very young Grandpa and Wainy both sport moustaches), this wild, silly, and exciting tall tale will delight most toddlers and young children. Grandpa how Wainey couldn't agree with anything, and--Rashoman-like--Wainey claims that Grandpa was the disagreeable one. The alternate versions are just part of the fun. Their own, somewhat more stern parents similarly tell young Grandpa and Wainey to take a long walk, "and don't come back until you agree on something!" Wainey, with his trademark "Nump" (this is very funny to read aloud) repeatedly disagrees with the most factual of young Grandpa's observations on their walk. The stroll turns into a series of semi-perilous adventures, including a landslide ("rocks," according to Wainey) from which they are saved by a talking purple armadillo. In a hilarious sequence, Grandpa "hushed hundreds of ducks and geese" so he can find the lost Wainey: "At last, I had it down to one `WAH"...but it wasn't Wainey. It was just a parrot imitating the ducks and the geese." Of course, Wainey, has an entirely different version of the landslide and the armadillo, which is just as silly and unbelievable as Grandpa's version. Things get a little scarier as they fall safely off a cliff into a giant cave--or the moth of an iguana (depending on whose version you read). They get out of the situation either by Wainey's irritating crying or Grandpa's boring speech. They two brothers eventually wind up on top of a gigantic, hot and bubbling, cherry pie, and they finally agree on something" They want to go home! As in "We Hate Rain," it all ends happily in the present with the kids, Grandpa, and Wainey enjoying some ice cream. Stevenson's signature style graces the entire book. The alternating but equally outlandish stories are captivating and very funny, and Stevenson's whimsy shows in his casual illustrations. (Yet, it's mostly presented n a straight, manner-of-fact style, without the exclamatory emphases of someone like the talented, but differently attuned, Dave Pilkey.) Stevenson is a regular contributor to the New Yorker and other publications, and has written many other books (several featuring Grandpa and Wainey) that you'll enjoy immensely.