Sometimes Just One Is Just Right

K-Gr 2—A boy weighs in on what it's like to be an only child and how, sometimes, he wishes he had siblings. As an only, he gets all the attention, the remote is his when he wants it, and he can crawl into bed between Mom and Dad and they all fit. On the other hand, his cousin Nico has two brothers and a sister, which means he has playmates handy all the time. He has someone to watch TV with and to spit watermelon seeds at. The downside is that Nico has to share everything, including parental attention. All in all, though, the protagonist pronounces that being an only child is just right. This story gets its message across but is not engaging or imaginative. The pedestrian illustrations fail to make this book stand out. Cari Best's What's So Bad About Being an Only Child?? (Farrar, 2007) is a better-written and charmingly illustrated story that never veers toward the didactic and sends a similar message in a clever and fun way.—Joan Kindig, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA