Lottie Paris Lives Here

June 27, 2011
These in-sync collaborators offer a lighthearted glimpse into a day in the life of a bubbly African-American girl who lives with her Papa Pete in a house across from a park. Johnson's (The Day Ray Got Away) free-association narrative has a chatty cadence: "Do you like Lottie's hat? Uh-huh, me too. Lottie sure can wear a hat. Not everyone can wear a hat like that." Reinforcing the heroine's animated personality, Fischer's (Jump!) punchy gouache paintings reveal Lottie playing in the park, dressing up like a princess, washing her dog with the garden hose, and spending time in the "quiet chair" after she demands cookies (and ignores her vegetables) at dinner and later breaks her father's cellphone. The type also nods to Lottie's energy and spontaneity as it zigzags and swings across the pages. Fischer's art takes liberties that add to the book's sense of playfulness: Papa Pete's face is never revealed; Lottie's extravagant hat is decorated with animals, flowers, and a bright blue feather; and her dog is lavender. Lottie's world is a welcoming one, and she inhabits it fully. Ages 5â9.

July 1, 2011

Sure, she lives here, but she also plays, pretends and occasionally gets in trouble in this lively story about a young African-American girl and her Papa Pete. 

Textured, colorful gouache illustrations portray exuberant Lottie with stylized proportions: thin, gangly arms and legs topped by a veritable explosion of brown hair. She is clearly the focus here. Papa Pete's face is never shown, although readers see other parts of him: his feet when he relaxes on the porch; his lower half when he's holding Lottie's hand. Papa Pete is patient, dangling Lottie's little shoes from his fingertips (she wears his) when it's time to go walking and allowing her to eat a cookie before her vegetables; however, he's gently firm when necessary. Text and art generally complement one another: When it's stated "Now, this is Papa Pete leaving the room and his phone....," then "And this is Lottie in the quiet chair—again," it's up to the art to show the broken cell phone. Unfortunately, it's confusing when the text mentions a "babysitter," but Papa Pete is shown; is he her father, grandfather or just someone watching her? Perhaps it doesn't matter; their loving relationship is the point here.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

August 1, 2011

PreS-Gr 2-Lottie Paris is an exuberant, imaginative, and mischievous girl. On an outing to the park, Papa Pete, shown from the waist down, is in his socks, holding Lottie's shoes in one hand and clasping her hand in the other while she walks alongside him wearing his too-big boots and what looks like a man's necktie cinched around her waist as a belt. As the girl entertains herself, "going this way and that way and under the trees, around the fountain," Papa Pete, again only visible from the waist down, is seen seated on a park bench lacing up one of his shoes. Back home after a day of adventure, Lottie is in her bedroom that "is also a castle where the fish are her guards," and where her imagination is free to run wild. The day continues on to dinnertime and afterward when Lottie does something that lands her "in the quiet chair by the door." Fischer's large gouache images created with brayer, linocut, stamping, airbrush, sandpaper and brush line are endearing. Although the pictures appear to be simple, they contain a lot of visual cues pointing to the bond between Papa Pete and Lottie. A universal story told through the eyes of a vivacious youngster.-Mary N. Oluonye, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2011
Preschool-K Mischievous and smart, Lottie Paris discovers something new every day, whether she is having adventures in the park across from her home or absorbed in imaginative play with the castle in her all-pink bedroom. Young children will enjoy the repetitive, interactive text (Do you like Lottie's hat?) and the double-page spreads that show African American Lottie, with her ebullient body language, as she exchanges her pink, frilly slippers for Papa Pete's huge boots and grabs cold noodles from the food cart in the park (You can never have enough pockets). Children will connect with Lottie when she gets in trouble, too, and spends time in the quiet chair for yelling No! to veggie at the table (she wants another cookie) or for breaking Papa Pete's cell phone. Best of all is the slobbery dog (Dogs always want to kiss you when they're wet). A warm celebration of a father-daughter bond, this tender view of a child's everyday life will partner well with Emily Jenkins' What Happens on Wednesdays (2007).(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)