What Happens on Wednesdays
a picture book; illustrations by Lauren Castillo. FSG/Frances Foster, July 2007
A preschooler marks the progress of her day, not by the clock but by what happens after lunch, after nap, after swimming, after the library – and after Daddy comes home. Her morning walk to see dogs in the park takes her past the cat outside the deli, past her friend Errolyn's building and the daycare where she used to go when she was little, down the block to the bagel store.
The sounds, tastes, smells and sights of a multiethnic Brooklyn neighborhood, as seen through a child's eyes, will encourage children to make their own sensory maps and list events in their daily schedules.
See more of the art at www.laurencastillo.com.
What People Say about What Happens on Wednesdays
"A portrait of a day in the life of a city child, aglow with a young girl's love of routine and the predictable pleasures of spending time with Mom and Dad. The voice is pitch perfect: "When the clock says 6, we wake up Daddy. Which can take a long time." The details of the journey from dawn to dusk, to school and playground and back again, become a valentine to ordinary days, which in the end, this book conveys, are really the special ones.." —New York Times
"This gem of a read-aloud feels like a hug-- and a kiss." —Sacremento Bee
"Jenkins's deep understanding of what a small child marks as important informs every line of this tale... Another domestic triumph." —Kirkus, starred review
"Radiant mixed-media art by a debut illustrator captures the warmth and candor in Jenkins's (Five Creatures ) sparkling slice-of-life tale, narrated by a much-loved child in Brooklyn." —Publishers Weekly, starred review
"Finding the transcendent in the ordinary, this tender picture book imbues the activities of a typical weekday with the hallowed significance they assume in the life of a very young child…the story's central emotions about familial love and joyful, daily milestones will speak to children everywhere, particularly those who might need assurances that today's new schedules can rapidly become tomorrow's comfortable routines." —Booklist, starred review
