picture book review: serefina under the circumstances by phyllis theroux

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Serefina is a precocious and verbose young girl who has never kept a secret in her entire life. Still, her grandmother trusts Serefina with a big secret: she's throwing Serefina's little brother a surprise birthday party. Serefina's vibrant imagination envisions the secret growing bigger and bigger as she has a harder time keeping the secret. This books uses an immense amount of metaphor that almost places it into magical realism. Marjorie Priceman's illustrations often interpret these metaphors literally, which creates a beautifully expressive backdrop for this story.

Rating: 2.5 stars (out of 4) - really liked it
Challenges: 100+ Reading Challenge, Support Your Local Library

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