Shortlisted for:
• Mr Christie Book Award

The Toronto Star
"A new Barbara Reid book is always cause for celebration but The Party is a glorious confetti-strewn, chip-dippy, icing smeared invitation to families to relive summer's backyard get togethers. ...The party theme has handed Reid the chance to produce her most detailed illustrations yet, while the rhyming text adds emotion... each of Reid's Plasticine pictures is crammed with touching and hilarious childhood vignettes."

Kirkus Reviews
"In sprightly rhyme, Reid captures the range of experience, from initial weariness to high hilarity, present at parties full of relatives. Her illustrations, done in painted Plasticine on board, have a wonderful texture, making a Hawaiian shirt, three-bean salad, and Mary Jane shoes pop out of the page. A treat."

McLean's Magazine
"Her rhyming rendition of a family picnic in honour of Gran's 90th birthday gives a knee-high view of a summer's day that lures both child and parent into its carefree thrall. ...A treat for the four-to-eight-year-old set."

The Globe & Mail
She has a lovely vehicle with which to work her magic - a short versified story of her own composition about a party, uneagarly anticipated by two young girls.

It's a family birthday party, Granny's 90th, and the cast of characters - all as a large (or small) as life their 3d Plasticine splendour - are a wonder. Little details arrest the roving eye: the green palm trees "appliquéd" to Dad's sport short; the two girls pouting in the back seat of the car, squished in on either side of the picnic cooler; the cooler itself. as intimate as possible for a blue-and-white cooler to be; Aunt Joan bearing down on the girls to plant a kiss, her enormous ruby Plasticine lips a threat to any passing niece."

Publishers Weekly
"Reid's keen awareness of a child's perspective informs both words and pictures; for instance, as the sisters arrive, the text "there's no way to miss being kissed by Aunt Joan" accompanies a picture of the aunt looming large, popping out of the spread with arms outstretched and lips puckered. ...Visually enticing."

Quill & Quire (Starred Review)
"...in this new book her invention and creativity seem as fresh as ever. Slices of ham with pineapple rings, expressive faces of different ages, party hats, lawn chairs and a shaggy dog Reid manages to give them all a convincing texture and vitality on the page."

The Ottawa Citizen
"Barbara Reid has...given our memories a new look and excitement through the images that she has created from her trademark medium... plasticine. Just when you think that she could not possibly improve her art, she does."

The Whig Standard
"This charming book will appeal to children ages four to eight, as well as anyone who appreciates art. I would recommend this book to babysitters - kids love to look at the pictures and follow along with the story. This would also be a good investment for the children's section of any library."

Resource Links
"This is the perfect inter-generational book, so use it with mixed groups as well as youngsters.