A first playdate with two very different girls with two different versions of the same doll - princess and secret agent - told entirely in dialogue, shows how two imaginations can make a new story together. A little brother's appearance with "Cyborg Penelope" is the perfect ending (or opening for a sequel). ( )

Two young girls, one with a Penelope Princess doll and the other with a Penny the Secret Agent doll, find a way to play happily together in this entertaining picture-book examination of childhood games of make believe. Brought together on a play date, the two girls seem at first, through their dolls, not to appreciate one another's style, but eventually they see that both princesses and secret agents can do fun things...

Having enjoyed author Dan Richards' earlier picture-book, Can One Balloon Make an Elephant Fly?, which also features the imaginative life of a child, I picked up Penny and Penelope with a happy sense of anticipation. I was not disappointed, appreciating both the fun and games in the story, and the larger message about girls (and girl dolls) being able to enjoy lots of different kinds of adventures. The artwork from Claire Almon is colorful and cute, and I appreciated the fact that the girls were depicted as being Asian-American and African-American, as I find that most stories featuring cross-cultural/cross-racial friendships usually depict at least one of the children as Euro-American. Recommended to all young children who enjoy games involving dolls and/or lots of imagination. ( )