Xander's Panda Party by Linda Sue Park (review)

"Xander planned a panda party. Yes, a dandy whoop-de-do!" Problem is, Xander is the only panda at his zoo, so the guest list is a bit on the slim side. As the rollicking rhyme continues, Xander opens up the invitation to wider and wider groups of guests: first bears, then mammals, then mammals and birds, then mammals and birds and reptiles, and, eventually, everyone in the zoo, including human guests. Each broadening of the invitee list is rooted in entertaining and scientifically based reasoning—when Koala informs Xander that she is in fact not a bear, he widens it to mammals, when Rhino refuses to attend without his oxpecker bird, Xander adds birds to the list, etc. In the end, it winds up being a panda party after all, as the zoo welcomes a new panda from China and the public turns out in droves to celebrate the new arrival. An author's note offers more in-depth details on some of the scientific references within the text, but really it is the jaunty cadence and spirited verses that are going to attract listeners to Xander's tale. Much of the rhyme is internal, and readers-aloud will definitely want to practice a time or two before trying the tongue-twisting verses ("Amanda Salamander lent a hand to Xander Panda. / Xander's party plans went from grand to even grander") on a crowd. Phelan's ink and watercolor compositions offer the perfect counterpoint to the tightly wrought verses, with playfulness inherent in the fluid, inky outlines encasing broadly applied brushstrokes. Xander himself is an expressive chap, and his frequently perplexed countenance pairs perfectly with the descriptions of how overwhelming it is to put on a good party. Fortunately for Xander, it all turns out in the end, in a "dandy whoop-de-do" indeed.