I’m Not Sydney!
by Marie-Louise Gay; illus. by the author
Preschool, Primary    Groundwood    40 pp.    g
3/22    978-1-77306-597-7    $19.99
e-book ed.  978-1-77306-599-1    $16.99

On the title page, Sydney, a towheaded boy, stands smiling beneath a tree, but when the story starts, he is no longer in sight. Now up in the tree, he answers his friend Sami when she calls him: “I’m not Sydney. I am a sloth.” And that is what the picture shows: a smiling sloth hanging by all fours from a branch. Sami, who has a long, curly tail of black hair, then scampers up the tree, declaring that sloths are too slow and that she would rather be a spider monkey; and in the next picture we see a monkey leaping for a branch, with a curling tail behind her. They are joined by more friends—Edward (an elephant), Anamaria (an anteater), and Brigitte (a bat). As soon as the elephant sprays them all with his trunk, they are portrayed as children again, with Edward holding a hose. Gay (Mustafa, rev. 9/18) uses watercolors, pencil, and white ink to give each animal a distinct look in a landscape filled with lively details and motion. The story continues to blend realistic events with imaginary ones as the diverse group of children return to their homes, eat supper (Sydney eating “fresh juicy leaves”), and head to bed—except for the un-sleepy Brigitte (“It was time to fly out into the night”). A well-paced, funny adventure that will likely inspire children to decide which animal they’d choose to be.

From the May/June 2022 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.