All the Lost Things

It’s another grouchy, cranky day in the city (“Everyone just shush!” says one of many complaining voices filling the air), until young Olive discovers a huge lost-and-found under the street. This is no ordinary repository: among the expected stuff (scissors, hair clips, homework, phones) are boxes of abilities, characteristics, and qualities of mind, like willpower, youth, courage, and faith. “Since no one has come looking for them in so long,” the grandmotherly “little old lady” in charge tells Olive, “Feel free to take whatever you like!” Grabbing a few things for her immediate family (a sense of humor for a teenage sister “who didn’t know she’d lost it”), Olive also takes a jar filled with hope to spread around. Sure enough, the once grey mean streets turn bright, colorful, and downright polite (“Hello, neighbor!”). There’s no missing the Big Message debut author-artist Canby is determined to deliver, but while the writing is unsubtle, her freewheeling pictures, which combine cartooning with collage, are confident, fresh and chummy. Ages 4–8. Agent: James Burns, Bright Group International. (Aug.)