Pinky and Rex and the New Neighbors

From School Library Journal Grade 1-3?Mrs. Morgan, the elderly neighbor who first appeared in Pinky and Rex and the Mean Old Witch (Atheneum, 1991), has decided to sell her home and move to a retirement complex. Pinky and Rex are sad that their friend is leaving and worry about who might buy her house. For a time, it appears that a family with a very obnoxious child might be moving in. The two friends discuss the move with Mrs. Morgan and visit her in her new apartment. All ends happily when a different family does at last arrive. As usual, Pinky and Rex's feelings are respectfully explored and addressed. They reminisce over their friendship with their neighbor, bid her a tender farewell, and are comforted to find her settling in at her new residence. The ending may resolve things just a tad too nicely for some readers (the new family includes a friend for both Pinky's sister Amanda, and Rex's baby brother), but it will reassure children facing a move or the move of a friend. Sweet's pleasant watercolors accentuate key moments in the story.?Marilyn Taniguchi, Santa Monica Public Library, CACopyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc. From