Best Night Out with Dad (Chicken Soup for Little Souls Series) »

Lisa McCourt has always worked in children's publishing and has written over a dozen books for children. She was one of the three finalists for the coveted 1995 LMP Award recognizing excellece in children's publishing and one of her recent books was featured on CNN as exemplary children's book.

"You mean you've never been to the circus before?" So begins a ten-minute friendship between two strangers-two little souls sharing a love for tigers, clowns, and spectacular feats of human bravery and big tent drama. Danny's descriptions of the circus so thoroughly captivate Vincent that the younger boy is bursting with anticipation when his father finally steps up to the box office.

But at that moment, a sudden turn of events makes everything feel horribly wrong. Danny is given the opportunity to make a choice-and to discover a brand new part of himself. Feeling the natural stirrings of love and generosity in his heart, Danny makes the critical decision that turns a fun night out with Dad into the best night out ever.

School Library Journal

K-Gr 3These three titles adapt longer stories of generosity and unexpected kindness for the picture-book set. In The Best Night Out, Danny is excited about going to the circus with his dad. However, when he meets a boy and his father waiting in line and it turns out they cannot afford the price of admission, Danny offers them his own tickets, and he and his father attend a basketball game instead. In Goodness Gorillas, Ms. King's students form a club to do good deeds, and all but the class bully, Todd, join the effort. When his dog is killed, the teacher encourages the children to reach out to him, resulting in the boy changing his ways and joining their club. In The Never-Forgotten Doll, Ellie learns that her 88-year-old favorite babysitter still feels sad about the loss of her prized china doll when she was a child. Ellie spends her savings on an antique doll and presents it to Miss Maggie for her birthday, leaving the elderly woman visibly touched. While the covers of these feel-good tales are rather ordinary, the realistic watercolor illustrations inside, particularly Dodson's, use strong colors in their full- and half-page paintings that complement the texts. The stories are readable, and the messages are clear, if a bit heavy-handed. They will be useful for adults who want to present strong moral values in a nonreligious manner. Although they may prove to a be a bit too sugarcoated for some, they are sure to provoke discussions about the need for kindness in our all-too-violent world.Nancy Menaldi-Scanlan, LaSalle Academy, Providence, RI