Zoe Gets Ready

March 12, 2012
“On school days, soccer days, and rainy days, someone else always decides what Zoe will wear,” writes Murguia. Ah, but today is Saturday, and Zoe gets to decide—which will also determine the kind of day she’s going to have. Murguia (Buglette, the Messy Sleeper) is right that autonomy, when granted only occasionally, brings with it a dizzying sense of potential. And her spare cartooning is hard to resist—Zoe has only dots for eyes and a mouth, but readers will know that within that oversize head (crowned by two pigtails) there’s an outsize imagination and thirst for adventure. Unfortunately, the book ends up a catalogue of not-too-exciting possibilities, expressed in cutesy language that seems out of step with the spirited, creative heroine. Her options include “a pocket day,” during which she stuffs her hoodie with treasures like flowers and frogs, and a “twirling day, a dizzy, whirling day,” made possible by a purple circle skirt. Her final decision, a kind of sartorial smorgasbord, conjures up unfair comparisons to another independent-minded young lady: Fancy Nancy. Ages 3–5. Agent: Mary Kole, Andrea Brown Literary Agency.