Poppy Pickle

PreS-Gr 2—Living with "an ordinary dad, an ordinary mom, and three ordinary cats" is not always easy for the extraordinary Poppy Pickle—who is "full to the brim with imagination." When Poppy is sent to clean her room, however, her imagination gets the best of her, as a whole menagerie of imagined creatures become real and threaten to overtake her ordinary house. After trying unsuccessfully to "un-imagine" them, Poppy imagines a door instead and pushes the creatures through; unfortunately, there is little she can do about the mess they left behind, and she must prove to her parents that she is not the one to blame for it. Yarlett's mixed-media illustrations are bold, bright, and colorful and give joyous life to Poppy's infectious enthusiasm and creativity. Poppy's imagined creatures are a whimsical delight, and many spreads are punctuated with clever, quirky details that reward readers who carefully examine the art. Different fonts are used for narration and dialogue, and there is variety in the text size throughout and in the composition of each page.