(Longing for the new Space Explorers video game, Little Bill and his friends are disappointed when their parents refuse to buy the game and wonder how they can still have fun without it. Original."

Oprah Book Club� Selection, December 1997: Well-loved comedian Bill Cosby encourages kids to get creative in this simple story of how your own imagination can take you farther into outer space--and help you chase more aliens--than any TV show or video game ever could. In The Best Way to Play--one of Cosby's three Little Bill books for emerging readers--Little Bill tells his story from a friendly, first-person point of view, starting Saturday morning, when "All of the grown-ups were busy doing grown-up things."

He and the neighborhood kids are watching TV when they see an ad for a Space Explorers video game that instantly infuses desperate longing into their alien-catching little hearts. When Little Bill's friend Andrew gets a copy, everyone is thrilled. However, after quickly catching 100 aliens and getting perfect scores, the kids are bored with the game. They head for their trusty vacant lot where they chase an alien that looks like a cat and proceed to fly all the way to the moon! (Or at least they pretend to.) When Little Bill confesses to his mom that it was more fun to play outside than with the game, she says, "I'm glad. Now go to sleep. Space Explorers need their rest." While the engaging, upbeat story itself escapes heavy-handedness, the message is clear, clear, clear. Varnette P. Honeywood's flat, boldly colorful illustrations are full of life and expression, and early readers will welcome the spacious format, with large type and only a few short sentences on every page. (Ages 5 to 8)

Recommended to book clubs by 0 of 0 members.