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Reviewed by:
  • Andy & Sandy’s Anything Adventure by Tomie dePaola, and: When Andy Met Sandy by Tomie dePaola and Jim Lewis
  • Jeannette Hulick
dePaola, Tomie Andy & Sandy’s Anything Adventure; by Tomie dePaola and Jim Lewis; illus. by Tomie dePaola. Simon,
2016 28p
Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-4814-4157-5 $8.99
E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-4814-4158-2 $8.99 Ad Gr. K-1
When Andy Met Sandy; by Tomie dePaola and Jim Lewis; illus. by Tomie dePaola. Simon,
2016 28p
Trade ed. ISBN 978-1-4814-4155-1 $8.99
E-book ed. ISBN 978-1-4814-4156-8 $8.99 Ad Gr. K-1

When Andy Met Sandy, the first in dePaola’s new beginning-reader series, features a dark-haired boy, Andy, who encounters a red-headed girl, Sandy on the local playground. The pair takes some time to ponder each other’s friend potential until their joint interest in the seesaw—clearly a two-person activity—establishes their newfound friendship. In Andy & Sandy’s Anything Adventure, Sandy comes over to play at Andy’s house, and the two enjoy trying on the contents of a costume trunk and even dressing up as each other: “I am you! And I am you! And together we are always friends.” Authors like Mo Willems have hoisted high the bar for the beginning-reader genre, and these entries pale in comparison to such dynamic recent works; the action here is pretty tame and neither of the two texts really achieves much momentum. The controlled and decodable vocabulary, short sentence length, and large font definitely support beginning readers, however, and readers who enjoy gentle storylines may find Andy and Sandy’s activities perfectly satisfying. dePaola’s trademark acrylic and colored pencil artwork is as tidy and attractive as ever here, and the smaller, light-brown-skinned Andy and taller, bespectacled Sandy, with a mop of Orphan Annie curls, are an amiable pair. Primary-grade fans of dePaola’s picture books will likely be pleased to follow him to the next reading level.

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