cover image The High Street

The High Street

Alice Melvin. Abrams/Tate, $15.95 (52p) ISBN 978-1-85437-943-6

Sally, a girl who carries a shopping basket and wears a red A-line jumper, needs to pick up 10 specific items from the High Street, including a yellow rose, a bunch of grapes, and a tin kazoo. Readers can assist her in finding the objects by lifting full-page flaps that reveal the interiors of the High Street's shops. At each location, Sally walks away with one of the items from her list. At Mr Botton's bakery, there's "no cockatoo,/ no tin kazoo,/ no Persian rug,/ no stripy jug,/ but a cherry tart!" Sally finds a Persian rug at Ms Yoshiko's antiques shop, roller skates at Mr Crispin's toyshop, and a bunch of grapes at the greengrocer's, but still no yellow rose. Scottish author and artist Melvin (Counting Birds) fills her matte pages with ornamental pen-and-ink details, paying special care to brick inlay, awnings, arches, wallpaper, and fabric patterns. Surprises are nestled within every page (a puppet show, a brass trio), with the final one being a message: the most treasured gifts of all may not always be on the list. Ages 4%E2%80%938. (Nov.)