sequences, varies rhythms, and punctuates
her lines with piquant sound words:
“One, two, three/ crows in a tree./ Three
roly-poly bugs,/ three ripe mangoes./
Three for the counting crows./ Three, by
jango!” Dunlavey’s (The Dandelion’s Tale)
inquisitive black crows are all beaks and
legs, with loose-fitting red-and-white-
striped sweaters; one fashion renegade
wears a polka-dotted scarf. Their eyes bug
out as they peer at unfamiliar objects:
“Ten crunchy crickets,/ ten green pep-
pers./ Ten for the counting crows./ Yep,
yep, yeppers!”
The crows’
black beaks and
red stripes stand
out against the
white pages,
giving the
spreads a crisp,
pared-down appearance. By contrast, the
trees, telephones poles, trash baskets, and
other background features are rendered in
delicate, gracefully elaborated pencil
lines. When a cat materializes beneath a
park bench, the startled birds depart in
small groups, and Dunlavey’s final images
add a note of quiet reflection to this
clever, innovative creation. Ages 3–7.
Finding Spring
Carin Berger. Greenwillow, $17.99
ISBN 978-0-06-225019-3
Berger’s (A Perfect Day) crisp, meticu-
lous paper compositions give her work a
distinctive, tailored look. Neatly trimmed
paper shapes are mounted above fields of
muted green and ivory, casting thin slivers
of shadow on the page. Maurice, a bear
cub, knows he’ll wake up to his first
spring, and he’s too excited to sleep. He
leaves the cave he shares with his mother
to start his search early. Hurrying along a
forest path, dwarfed by towering pines,
Maurice feels a spark of cold, holds up a
snowflake, and mistakes it for something
else. “Spring?” he asks. On the Great Hill,
he revels in a blizzard of snowflakes, a tour
de force of lacy paper shapes, and collects
them in his sack. When he awakens
months later, his sack is empty, of course,
but real spring and a splendid shower of
flower petals give him new joy. Even the
youngest readers have the satisfaction of
knowing more about snow and spring
than Maurice does, and the balletic grace
of Berger’s artwork provides exceptional
visual drama throughout. Ages 4–8.
I Used to Be Afraid
Laura Vaccaro Seeger. Roaring Brook/
Porter, $17.99 ISBN 978-1-59643-
631-2
Common fears are named and put to
rest in Seeger’s (Green) visually dramatic
picture book. A girl wears an open-
mouthed expression of shock in the open-
ing spread, watching a spider dangle from
her ceiling. “I used to be afraid of spi-
ders,” she reports, continuing with a deci-
sive “but not anymore.” The spider is a
die-cut opening to the next spread, where
the girl observes the spider building a
web, an array of sticky, stuttering lines
that appear drawn with white glue.
Repeating this pattern of stating and
recontextualizing conquered fears, Seeger
shifts the sources of anxiety from manage-
able things, like shadows and “making a
mistake,” to the discomfort brought by
life changes. Four spreads address “being
alone”: a rectangular cutout becomes the
window of a
bus taking the
girl’s friend
away to camp.
The girl hangs
her head until
the “but not
anymore” page
pictures her
contentedly reading beneath a tree. Seeger
uses striking acrylic hues, chunky shapes,
and a resolute voice to suggest that fears
(even those involving big brothers) can be
overcome. Despite its small dimensions,
this book suggests big determination.
Ages 3–7.
In
Nikki McClure. Abrams Appleseed,
$16.95 ISBN 978-1-4197-1486-3
It’s hard to imagine how McClure’s cre-
ations could get any better, yet her cut-
paper compositions continue to grow
more inventive and fluid. A boy in paja-
mas sits on the floor with his yellow toy
giraffe, playing with blocks. “I only want
to stay in.... Inside. In. In. In.” His
unseen caretaker gives him all the time he
needs. He builds, reads (even on the toi-
let), and eats marmalade on hot popovers.
A wicker laundry basket figures promi-
nently in his play; when he burrows down
into it, the contrast between the softness
of his hair and the basket’s stiff weave is a
small miracle. Eventually, the boy has had
enough. Now he
dashes “Outside.
Outdoors. Out.
Out. Out,” where
he hangs from dark
branches and hunts
for owls, finding—
with the aid of a
flashlight—a treeful
of them, which McClure presents in a
show-stopping gatefold spread. Intimacy,
a love of the natural world, and venera-
tion for the needs and perceptions of
childhood ground this affectionate por-
trait of the richness and value of unre-
stricted, unprogrammed play. Ages 2–5.
Max’s Math
Kate Banks, illus. by Boris Kulikov.
FSG/Foster, $17.99 ISBN 978-0-
374-34875-5
Although mathematics is front and
center in this follow-up to Max’s Words
and Max’s Castle, the clever wordplay of
the previous books remains on display as
Max and his brothers set off “looking for
problems” to solve. Their journey takes
them to Shapeville, where Max shows
storm-battered residents how to create a
new town square from two triangles.
From there, they soar to the stars and
back, visit Count Town, and witness a
rocket launch before heading home to bed
(but not before counting sheep, of course).
Kulikov’s visual flights of fancy will set
readers’ imaginations soaring as Banks
slyly introduces a bevy of math concepts.
Ages 4–8.
Mesmerized: How Ben
Franklin Solved a Mystery
That Baffled All of France
Mara Rockliff, illus. by Iacopo Bruno.
Candlewick, $17.99 ISBN 978-0-
7636-6351-3
Rockliff (Me and Momma and Big John)
