Zizi and Tish - Softcover

Zizi and Tish were sisters. They had long, chocolate-colored ponytails and cinnamon freckles across their noses.

Zizi was the small one. She like holding hands and hiding in tiny, just-her-size places.

Tish was the tall one. She knew how to buy things in stores and ride a two-wheeler.

PreS-Gr. 2. Zizi has fun at the family summer cottage with her older sister, Tish. But then Tish makes friends with another 12-year-old, Kimber, from across the bay, and Zizi feels lonely and angry and mean. Based on Moore's own childhood memories, the story is true to the small child's viewpoint. Words and pictures express the elemental sibling scenario with humor and tenderness but no condescension. Zizi is scared of deep water, so she absolutely hates it when Tish goes water-skiing with her new friend. When Kimber sleeps over, the big girls "snickered like witches." Zizi writes unkind notes ("Tish is sucky") and leaves them where Tish can find them. There's no sweet reconciliation with the interloper; but one night, the sisters bravely watch a scary thunderstorm and fall asleep together. Full of passionate feeling, the scribbly ink-and-watercolor pictures are as much fun when they show Zizi scowling and jealous as they are when depicting scenes of comfort and love. Hazel Rochman
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