We just love the cheerful and happy illustrations that make this a really meaningful Judith Viorst book. Here, the beautiful pictures' exuberant humor, joy, and color add another dimension, almost another story, to a tale of how different 2 sisters and a brother can be. They really do embody "the genuine spirit of animation, the breathing to life, the swing into action," that Maurice Sendak says he considers "an essential quality in pictures for children's books" in "Caldecott & Co.," his book of essays on books and pictures. In fact, the pictures are so wonderful that you should look at the charming, wordless books Robin Preiss Glasser, the illustrator of "Super-Completely," has made with her sister: "You Can't Take a Balloon Into The Metropolitan Museum" and "You Can't Take a Balloon Into The National Gallery."