Gr 1-3-Prudence always performs perfectly-at everything. Auditions for the school play reveal that she's just right for every available part-stage handyman, sound engineer, the four acting roles, or banjo player. She simply blows away the competition. Brightly painted, energetic cartoon illustrations highlight this overachiever's world. Readers witness her confidence, dreams of glory backstage, and perfection onstage in a double-page solo in the spotlight. The kids say they're used to her having all the fun, but a program for the performance reveals a scribbled mustache drawn on her face. In a humorous but rewarding twist at the end of the performance, Prudence and readers realize that one person simply cannot do everything perfectly.-Mary Elam, Forman Elementary School, Plano, TX (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Young Prudence always does everything better than everyone else. In this tongue-in-cheek tale, she is assigned every responsibility in the school play, from starring to working the lights. All that annoying perfection backfires in a funny, unpredictable turn that ends the story a bit too abruptly. The unrefined cartoony illustrations are a good match for the book's exaggerated humor. From HORN BOOK Fall 2003, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Prudence is so perfect that she not only gets cast in every part of the school play, Jack and the Beanstalk ("The teachers all agreed she'd make a wonderful Jack and a magnificent Jack's mother and a sensational both ends of the cow..."), but the faculty also lets her perform the music and handle all the sound effects. With frenetic and luridly colored cartoons, Allwright captures the feverish whirlwind of Prudence's infallibility and its power to make grownups swoon. One spread depicts the star peering out from a brown-spotted cow costume while, opposite, a bonnet and skirt over the cowlegs indicates she's switched to the role of Jack's mother, singing a duet with Jack-as-a-puppet ("Prudence was also a talented ventriloquist"). "Didn't the other kids get fed up with Prudence being allowed to have all the fun?" asks the omniscient narrator in a voice that, throughout the book, shows a flair for pint-size irony and adult-directed cynicism. "Well, they were used to it. The teachers were always saying that if a thing was worth doing, Prudence was the only one worth doing it." But Prudence is no caricature of pure evil, and the punchline of this extended joke may well draw readers' sympathy for the protagonist. Ages 4-8. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved