Harry and Clare’s Amazing Staycation by Ted Staunton and Mika Song

Harry and Clare’s Amazing Staycation by Ted Staunton and Mika Song (#ownvoices)

Trapped inside at home due to rain, Harry and Clare use their vivid imaginations to have lots of fun adventures—well, fun for Clare who has a lot of opinions about how the adventures should go and somehow manages to find a way to eat Harry’s snack every day. On the day they get to go the park, Clare realizes they forgot snacks and wants to go home, but Harry has squirreled snacks away in his pockets, and uses them to negotiate a more equal partnership in their playtime. Clever, imaginative, and fun, but probably best for older groups who will understand the dynamics of the story.

Themes/topics: snacks, imagination, siblings, playtime, bossiness

Sample text:

“Watch out for umpire bats,” whispered Clare, “and hop quietly. The hippo is sleeping.” She jumped, clunk, over the sandbox. Harry had an idea. He kept it to himself.

“We are looking for a sunken ship guarded by a monster octopus,” Clare went on. “We’d better ride our Kimono dragons so we can go faster.” Harry rode hard to keep up. He held on to his idea.

“Duck,” Clare cried. “Elephant hummingbirds!” Then she reined in her Kimono dragon. “Oh-oh. We forgot snacks. We have to go back.”

Harry didn’t say a word. He climbed off his dragon, took something from his pocket and began to munch.

“Is that a baby carrot?” asked Clare. Harry didn’t answer. His mouth was full.