Heat Wave by Eileen Spinelli (Genre: Picture Book)

A.    BIBLIOGRAPHY
Spinelli, Eileen. 2007. HEAT WAVE. Ill. by Betsy Lewin. Orlando, FL: Harcourt, Inc. ISBN 9780152167790

B.    PLOT SUMMARY
Set in the past when air conditioning was non-existent, this humor-infused picture book takes a look at the inhabitants of the town of Lumberville during a blistering summer week. A heat wave alert has been issued and the inhabitants cope with the unforgiving heat in their own, irreverent ways. Some seek refuge by taking long cool baths or showers, others give in to their entrepreneurial instincts and try to make some money selling lemonade and ice, whilst others think of creative ways to get their chores done, such as cooking in the basement! As the week passes, the residents begin to get more desperate in their attempts to escape the sizzling weather. Will the townsfolk of Lumberville ever get respite from the heat?

C.    CRITICAL ANALYSIS
Spinelli’s writing is witty and humorous and will hold wide appeal for both children and adults. In line with the theme of hot weather, words such as “hot”, “hotter”, and “hottest” appear in the text and are presented in bold, red type for emphasis. Spinelli also plays with words in conveying underlying meaning which adults will appreciate, e.g. ‘The mayor of Lumberville passed out Popsicles and political flyers.” Here, it becomes apparent to an adult reader that the mayor has a hidden agenda in passing out the popsicles, a message that will obviously not register with young children. In using ordinary people as her characters, the author lends the story credibility and engages the reader’s attention and interest.
Lewin’s illustrations closely match the activities described in the text and make the story easy to follow and comprehend, an especially important feature given the buzz of activities throughout the story. The color orange dominates through much of the story which is apt considering the theme which is focused on blistering heat. This is later nicely contrasted with the use of blue hues to convey a cooling down in temperature as the heat wave gradually breaks.
One thing I noticed was the lack of cultural diversity in the characters portrayed. This may be a reflection of the time frame this story was set in, but the lack of cultural diversity was something that caught my attention as I read through the book and perused the illustrations. For example, if this was being read to an African-American child, I wonder how the child would feel at not seeing any African-Americans depicted in the story? That being said, I felt author Spinelli and illustrator Lewin effectively captured how a community, in a time long past, coped with a blistering summer week.

D.    AWARDS/ REVIEW EXCERPT(S)
Caldecott Honor Winner

Publishers Weekly: "A power outage may be the closest modern readers come to a similar experience, but they (and nostalgic parents) should nonetheless appreciate this good-natured tribute to summer at its hottest."

E.    CONNECTIONS
*This book makes for perfect reader/audience engagement with the text and illustrations. For example, a teacher/librarian/parent can elicit children’s responses to the following prompts:
 “What do you do when the weather is really hot?”
“Describe your experience.”
“How do you typically cool off in the heat?”
*Cloze procedure: Cover key words in the text (perhaps one or two per page), and encourage children to guess what the missing word is by looking at the sentence and contextual clues.
*Other books about hot weather:
Ketteman, Helen. 1998. HEAT WAVE. ISBN 0802786448