I Can See Just Fine

June 10, 2013
Regardless of whether readers need glasses themselves, they’ll quickly recognize that Paige’s repeated exhortation that “I can see just fine!” is suspect. On the cover, the blonde girl shouts the title in a speech bubble as she reads a book (it’s upside down); before readers even hit the title page, they see Paige leaving a bathroom with toilet paper trailing from her mismatched shoes (worse, it’s the boys’ room). Paige’s father notices something is amiss after Paige mistakes a skunk for a cat, and her teacher realizes she’s having trouble seeing the chalkboard. Barclay pictures Paige standing on tiptoes on her school desk, peering intently at readers—it’s an impressive approximation of a squint, considering the dot-eyed characters call to mind Fisher-Price Little People figures. Trips to the eye doctor and eyeglasses store follow, under protest, and although Barclay also squeezes humor into these scenes (Paige tries on a monocle and pair of 3D glasses), there’s a reassuring normalcy to the entire process. It’s a useful, non-didactic story for kids in Paige’s situation—and utterly fun, too. Ages 4–6. Agent: Kirsten Hall, the Bright Agency.

July 15, 2013
Repeatedly uttering the titular protest, a child is dragged off to "see" the eye doctor in this neatly drawn, too neatly resolved take on a common experience. Paige's inability to make out what's on the class chalkboard is just one of a set of symptoms that trigger a day off from school, an eye exam, a chance to try on a zillion pairs of eyeglass frames and, after a fitting, a whole new, sharply focused world. But if the textual narrative is pretty straightforward, the visual subtext is not. The climactic fuzzy-to-sharp spread implies that Paige's affliction is really no more than simple myopia, but cues scattered through Barclay's bright, simple cartoon illustrations point, if apparently unintentionally, to more complex vision (or other) problems. Paige wears mismatched shoes of different colors; in one scene, she "reads" a book held upside down; most egregiously, she happily cuddles a "kitty" that is actually a skunk (later, she identifies it correctly and still cuddles it). Even the final scene, in which Paige pours orange juice into her breakfast cereal while disagreeing with her mother's remark that her glasses are too dirty to see through, doesn't quite come off as a joke. It's hard to judge intent, but even if this might provide lighthearted reassurance for young squinters, it's going to leave more observant parents and other caregivers disquieted, at best. (Picture book. 5-7)

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September 1, 2013

Gr 1-3-Barclay approaches the subject of eyesight and glasses with empathy and humor. Paige insists that she can see "just fine," but the illustrations show that she has mistaken a skunk for a kitten, can't see the sheet music in orchestra, and has her bedtime book upside down. Children will delight in noticing the details that contradict the child's declarations. When she finally receives her glasses after a visit to the eye doctor, two pictures (one blurry and one crisp) settle the matter in a simple, yet convincing manner. With an attractive, clean layout and big speech bubbles, this story is one that young readers will easily follow as Paige ultimately triumphs with her new glasses.-Nora Clancy, Teachers College Community School, New York City

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