Walter Was Worried
By Laura Vaccaro Seeger
Roaring Brook Press, $6.95
40 pages, ISBN: 1596431962

Review by Amy Brozio-Andrews

Writer and illustrator Laura Vaccaro Seeger, already known for her characteristically vibrant and colorful work with The Hidden Alphabet and Lemons are not Red, returns with a paperback re-issue of Walter Was Worried.

The action begins as soon as the book is opened, right in the endpapers, as a red kite floats against a blue sky. The title page, darker and grayer, gives readers an ominous hint of the story to come, in which children react, one by one, to an impending storm and its rapid passing.

The repetitive style of Seeger's writing sets each verse's beginning on one page facing a painting of a child's face and concludes on the next page, with a two-page illustration that depicts the cause of the child's fear. Individual verses spotlight one child and one emotion, and each emotive word is set in mixed fonts. Those same letters are arranged to make features on the face of the child in the illustration, reflecting the same emotion, reinforcing the concept to kids as well as making a game of letters. When Walter was worried, a sideways D became his mouth, an O and E were his eyes, two lowercase R's stood in for eyebrows while a tiny W on his cheek added to his expression of concern.

Seeger's alliterative pairing of the children's names and corresponding emotions-- puzzlement, shock, fear, hope, delight-- make this a great read-aloud book, especially for kids just learning the alphabet and about emotions and their matching facial expressions. The treasure hunt of matching the letters that make up the emotive word and the features on the children's faces reinforces letter recognition. Kids can also enjoy mimicking the expressions of the children in the book, and parents can use Walter Was Worried as a good conversation starter with their own children, asking what makes them feel worried, upset, or delighted.

The bright, high-energy jewel-tones of Seeger's artwork are the perfect match for the anxiety, apprehension, and then relief that her characters express in the book. Her uncluttered and stylized pictures direct and encourage readers' focus on the words, letters, and facial expressions, leading children safely through the storm. She's even illustrated the endpapers in keeping with her story, bookending the beginning and end of the book nicely, and providing a solid frame of reference for the reader.

Part of the appeal of Walter Was Worried is in its universality; kids will easily relate to how the kids in the book must be feeling as the clouds roll in, thunder drums, and lightning forks across the sky, and then, just as suddenly, as the storm clears and the sun returns. With thrills, chills, and a silver-lining too, Walter Was Worried is a great book that blurs the line between reading and learning.