Playground

PreS-Gr 2—Two kids and their cat use their imaginations to pass through a variety of different landscapes—some friendly, some not so much—on their way to the playground. The narrators speak directly to readers ("Let's go to the playground! Are you coming?") while mazelike illustrations and instructive text encourage viewers to find the way through each page with fingers; the title page states, "Red arrows on each page show you where to start and where to go next," though these instructions are easily missed. Vibrant, dreamy illustrations depict the imaginative scenes conjured up on each spread, and kids will enjoy inspecting humorous details; on one page, the cat grumpily watches as his hat is used for blackberry collecting. The follow-along concept works more successfully on some pages than others, but lively sentences make this a fun book to act out, especially in a storytime. Beautiful colors and surreal settings clearly indicate the protagonists' fanciful creations, and they so enjoy exploring their whimsical world that when they finally arrive at their destination, they exclaim, "Let's go back!"