Editorial Reviews
From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 2-Seymour and Opal has real ’90s appeal with its jazzy watercolor-and-pencil stylized cartoons featuring a not-too-neat house with lots going on. Though bossy Seymour charges his sister a nickel toll to pass through his room to get to hers, Opal is a more contented child even when her piggy bank has been emptied by the payments. Her imaginative games and inner strength bring her happiness. Seymour and Rosemary Wells’s Ruby, Max’s older sister, are characters of the same fur (rabbits) who rely on the word “Because” to rule their siblings. In both cases, the tables are turned and the irrepressible kids come out the winners. This gentle story of getting along with others will be a hit because these characters are so true to life.
Gale W. Sherman, Pocatello Public Library, ID
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.
From Booklist
Ages 3^-8. Sibling rivalry is a common theme in children’s stories, but here’s a picture book that is candid about the hidden family power play. Opal has to pass through Seymour’s room to get to her own, and one day, he decides to charge a toll. He warns her not to tell Mother and Father. Every time she goes into her room, she has to give Seymour a nickel, until her piggy bank is empty, and she can’t go through his room anymore. Then there’s a most satisfying reversal. Seymour gets bored on his own. He knocks on Opal’s door, but she’s too busy to play marbles or checkers or to splash with him in rain puddles. She’s braiding her doll’s hair, setting up a science lab, entertaining three good fairies at tea, setting off for the North Pole. The characters are rabbits with very human expressions and body language, and the delicately detailed ink-and-watercolor pictures show the children’s rooms filled with all their things and with Opal’s imaginative play. Hazel Rochman
From Kirkus Reviews
Seymour and Opal are brother-and-sister rabbits who have adjoining rooms; in fact, Opal must pass through Seymour’s room to get to her own. All is fine until Seymour decides to charge a nickel each time Opal wants to go into her room. Opal meekly pays up until one rainy day when Seymour, with nothing to do, begs Opal to play with him. Then she is able to bargain for something she wants, but readers aren’t likely to feel that justice has been served, since the ownership of the nickels isn’t resolved and the only sign of give-and-take is more like “taking advantage.” The story is mildly amusing, the pictures very sweet and funny, but Opal’s largely passive reaction to Seymour’s extortion is puzzling. (Picture book. 3-7) — Copyright ©1996, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.
From the Inside Flap
in full color. Siblings Seymour and Opal get along pretty well–until the day Seymour starts charging Opal five cents every time she passes through his room into hers. When Opal runs out of nickels, she decides to teach her brother a lesson–and before she’s through, Seymour realizes that his sister is worth more to him than a whole piggy bank full of change. In the tradition of the best books about childhood challenges, Nicole Jussek’s charming storytelling and Ana Lopéz Escrivá’s adorable bunny-rabbit characters provide just the right mixture of humor and reality to show that it’s more fun to be friends than foes.
