Genesis wants to play house, but Jadyn wants to play in the sandbox. Unable to agree with one another, both sisters go their separate ways, only to find that they just aren’t having fun playing alone. So once again they try to play together and again they refuse to play the other’s game, so end up playing alone. When the girls complain to their mother, she teaches them an important word: compromise.
The Day No One Played Together is a winner of the Mom’s Choice Award and is concise but descriptive and teaches children about how to work together and make compromises. The language is engaging, dynamic, and makes the characters easy for children to identify with as they say: “Today is so boring”, or “Genesis doesn’t want to play what I want to, and I don’t want to play what she wants to play”. The book also features three words and their definitions at the end of the story: disagree, brainstorm, and compromise. There is also no moral of the story stated at the end of the book, but rather author Donalisa Helsley allows the story and illustrations to impart the message of the book.
The illustrations by Sarah Harkey are cute and expressive, with the large-eyed, pouty-lipped, fashionable girls with stylish hairstyles and fashions using shades of muted pink, purple and greens to highlight many of the backdrops and items in the illustrations. The expressions on the characters’ faces are evocative, effectively expressing their sadness, boredom, frustration and joy. The layout of the illustrations and text is well balanced and aesthetically appealing with small colorful borders on corners.
The Day No One Played Together is a short, simple story with adorable illustrations that speaks volumes about the benefits of compromise. A good book to read-aloud to children ages 3 years and up.
Reviewed by Maya Fleischmann for IndieReader