Cool Ali
Written and Illustrated by: Nancy Podair
"As her neighbors relax outside their apartment building, Ali helps them beat the intense summer heat by drawing refreshing scenes in chalk: grass and flowers, a lake, a beach umbrella, the North Wind, a polar bear, and even a snow storm. Her sidewalk pictures create such pleasure that at first no one notices the rain. Ali's creations are washed away, but her friends hail her as a heroine. The text, which exudes an air of coziness as friendly as the building's multiethnic inhabitants, comes full circle with Ali drawing once again. This time she's indoors, and her subject is the sun. Poydar's cartoon illustrations, executed in watercolor, oil pastels, and colored pencils, depict several generations. The stoop and sidewalk, awash in shades of brown that suggest desert heat, are transformed into cool blues once the downpour begins. The neighbors move from lethargic stillness to whimsical play to joyful splashing in the rain."
School Library Journal Review
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