Yes, Let’s

In an age of technology overload, debut talents Longstreth and Wicks remind readers of the things that matter: family outings, the vitamin D that comes from time spent outdoors, and the memories that accompany such excursions. A family of seven—two parents, four kids, and a large and rambunctious dog—wake up early one morning, pack up the station wagon, and head out for a day in the woods: “Let’s hike the trail, hop the stream,/ and duck the fallen logs./ Let’s go this way,/ we’ve got all day—/ someone call the dog.” Despite the back-to-basics fun—swimming, picnic lunches, card games, and “milkshakes all around” on the way home—technology isn’t forbidden. The family’s digital camera “clicks” in several scenes, and the family poses twice for group pictures: once while they’re still fresh-faced, and again just before they leave, scuffed up and exhausted. Wicks’s clean-lined cartooning greatly expands on Longstreth’s understated but evocative verse, filling the pages with visual mini-narratives, dashes of humor, and details to pore over, all while capturing the cheerful chaos of a big, happy family. Ages 3–8. (May)