Amazon.com (ISBN 0060287616, Hardcover)

The duo sets out to "let off a little self-esteem" by following a seriously self-actualized (and gratifyingly quirky) boy and girl throughout their day on alternating pages. The kids take turns carrying the lines, often switching off midsentence, to describe exactly how and why "I'm gonna like me." (Girl: "I'm gonna like me / when I'm called on to stand. / I know all my letters / like the back of my hand." Boy: "I'm gonna like me / when my answer is wrong, / like thinking my ruler / was ten inches long.") The call and response continues through the action-packed day, as the kids get up, go to school, have lunch, go to a birthday party, etc., until they finally get tucked in--so no opportunity for building self-esteem gets overlooked.

Young readers will like Curtis's words and the rhythmic repetition, but it's Cornell's scribbling, reminiscent of the New Yorker's Roz Chast, that makes the book stand out. From an imagined fashion-show runway walk (love that snooty fashion press) to a hilarious lunch table spread (got to get some of that "Cup o' Lettuce" and "Pork by the Foot" for your Doris Day lunch box), Cornell fills the book with funny faces and lots of laughs (the best of which might be the girl's pet turtle working out in a cage with a treadmill, next to a book titled "Exercising Your Illegal Turtle"). (Ages 4 to 8) --Paul Hughes