Amber Was Brave, Essie Was Smart

Starred review from August 27, 2001
Through a pastiche of poems and pictures, Williams (A Chair for My Mother) presents an affecting portrait of two young sisters in a struggling family. In the opening entry, readers learn why older Essie is smart (she "could read hard library books/ .../ thread a needle,/ cook toasted cheese sandwiches/ make cocoa") and why Amber is brave ("She could get the grocery man/ to trust them for a container of milk/ though their mother/ couldn't pay him till payday/ Amber wasn't afraid of the rat/ in the wall under the sink"). Gradually, readers learn about the challenges they face: their mother works long hours, their father is in jail for check forgery, the radiator grows cold in the evenings and there is little food. Yet there are lighthearted moments, as when the sisters make a "best sandwich" (with Amber on one side, Essie on the other, and Wilson The Bear in the middle), shriek with laughter as they jump on the bed and share a weekly ritual of playing beauty parlor with their mother. In perhaps the most poignant passage, Amber cuts off her braids "to send to Daddy/ so he'll be sure to remember me." The tale closes on an upbeat note when Daddy appears at the door. Williams opens with full-color portraits of the girls and closes with pastel drawings of the more dramatic moments; she punctuates the poems with black-and-white pencil drawings that convey the deep affection between these sympathetic sisters. Though the author taps into difficult themes, by relaying the events through the eyes of the two girls, she maintains a ray of hope throughout the volume. Ages 7-up.

Starred review from April 26, 2004
In our Best Books citation, PW
wrote, "Through a pastiche of poems and pictures, Williams presents a moving and timeless portrait of two young sisters in a struggling family." Ages 7-up.

September 1, 2001
Gr 1-4-Williams's heartwarming story takes readers on the emotional roller-coaster ride that is Amber and Essie's life. Times are hard for their family-their mother works long hours, leaving them with sitters or cousins or often on their own. Worse yet, their father is in jail. While the girls share their heartache, they also share their special talents-Essie teaches Amber to write her name in script, and Amber convinces the grocer to trust them for milk until payday. The good times are good, but the bad times are really bad. The shadow of their father's mistake is always there. Williams's spare and touching verses capture every detail with clarity, humor, and heart. While the text is accessible to children just venturing beyond easy-readers, the story has a great deal of substance for older readers as well. Black-pencil sketches are full of action and as lively as Williams's poems, and fully capture the joys and sorrows of the girls' life. Finally, when the story has ended (or perhaps just begun), readers are treated to a full-color album of most of the high points and some of the low points the youngsters experience. A poignant testament to what it means to have a sister.-Jeanne Clancy Watkins, Chester County Library, Exton, PA

Copyright 2001 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 15, 2001
Gr. 3-5. Life isn't easy for sisters Amber and Essie. Their mother works long hours; their father's in prison; there's generally little to eat. But there is joy in their creative play, neighbor friendships, and mutual love and support, which shines through difficulties. In poems and pictures that are never overtly sentimental, Williams eloquently and intimately reveals the sisters' distinct personalities and their story. Her free-verse poems make striking use of vocabulary and line breaks, as in "Best Sandwich": "Amber on one side / and Essie on the other . . . while Wilson The Bear / lay right up in the middle," filling "them up / when peanut butter wouldn't / and jelly couldn't." In the poignant "Daddy Song," the girls' voices ring true as they long for their absent father: "Daddy / Sadly / Daddy / Badly . . . Daddy / Minely / Daddy / Whenly." Spare, evocative black-and-white pencil drawings throughout catch details of daily life, hard times and happy ones. At the end, a "Family Album," in vibrant colored pencil, pictures other events--from hair cutting and bouncing on the bed to "Sisters," a lovely and loving portrait of the hugging girls. An engaging, affecting view of the bonds between sisters, this balances reality with hope and love as it shows how small moments tell a big story.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)

January 1, 2002
A series of poems tenderly convey two sisters' resilience and vulnerability in the face of parental absence. The girls' father is in prison, and their mother must work long hours for minimal pay. Black-and-white pencil sketches enhance the poems' emotion, culminating in a joyous wordless three-page sequence when the girls' father returns home. Colored-pencil portraits open and close the book.

(Copyright 2002 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)