Say Hello, Vanessa

Vanessa Mouse is terribly shy. She can’t even bring herself to say “hello” to her classmates. Making friends, she thinks, must be the scariest thing in the world! Will Vanessa ever have a friend?

Say Hello, Vanessa, written by Marjorie Weinman Sharmat and illustrated by Lillian Hoban, is a children’s picture book, with charming pencil illustrations.

This is a fun one. Poor Vanessa is far too shy to speak to her classmates, worrying that they’ll look at her funny teeth and furry face, and reasoning that, after all, everybody already has enough friends. Her mother convinces her to give it a try, but at first she speaks much too quietly, and afterward much too loudly, to make a friend. Eventually, though, she speaks up in class, spelling a word--tooth--and one thing leads to another, and she makes her first friend, Quincy Moose.

The illustrations are nice–plain and simple pencils with just a bit of pink coloring. The writing is simple and smooth and fun to read, and Vanessa’s very quiet or very loud “hello” is set in a smaller or larger typeface, which is cute.

Say Hello, Vanessa is a fun and worthwhile children’s picture book--certainly worth a look.