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Rusty compares Kylie to a bug and hisses in her face like a snake. He chases her across the playground and interrupts her games of piggyback races and leapfrog.
Six-year-old Kylie Bell is the shortest person in the class, but she’s not easy to push around. Just like her relatives before her did, Kylie lives by the family motto and deals with her problems with kindness, bravery and intelligence. Enemies become friends by the end of this book, and thank-yous are given in the form of a much-needed lift.
Rendered in pen, ink and watercolor, the dry prairie landscapes in Not So Tall for Six are sandy in color and dotted with cacti and small clumps of grasses. The skies are vast sweeps of light blue or orangey-red. Students go to class in cowboy hats and boots, sandals, suspenders and dresses.
Descriptive words such as ol’bullfrog legs, fear-frozen and half-starved rattlesnake are illustrated in clever ways. Inventive words such as skitter-dee-doos and tip-tippity-two-steps help describe and move the characters in new ways.
A former journalist, Dianna Hutts Aston is the author of An Egg is Quiet and A Seed is Sleepy. She lives in Mexico.
Frank W. Dormer studied illustration at the Savannah College of Art and Design. He now works as a teacher and an illustrator. His illustrations can be found in the early chapter books Aggie and Ben: Three Stories and Good Dog, Aggie, and the picture book Supersister. He lives in Connecticut.
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Not So Tall for Six