The Almost Impossible Thing

Agaoglu’s debut children’s book is an extended metaphor for the way ideas come into being. “Once upon a time there was a dream,” she starts, “a dream that tried to take shape.” Graceful mixed-media pictures show a rabbit with skinny ears who sees a bird circle overhead. The rabbit longs to fly (fittingly, its ears sometimes appear outstretched like the wings of a bird or plane), and it begins to plan a flying machine, covering a wall with notes and a blackboard with sketches. “The dream didn’t know that it had no shape,” Agaoglu continues, focusing on the dream’s cloudy, uncertain state. “Unless it was kept in a tiny box.” The rabbit’s early attempts to fly fall flat, but the dream wants to become real and, at last, it does: “The power of that dream turned its box into... a rocket ship that flew into the light.” Readers see the rabbit and his friends form a giant rabbit flying machine that takes to the air in brilliant hues. Although the rabbit’s persistence is certainly on display, Agaoglu suggests that some dreams are so powerful that they almost will themselves into fruition. Ages 3–7. (Apr.)