Beautiful Oops!

A celebration of creative thinking, Saltzberg's small-format book encourages readers to view mistakes not as failures but opportunities. To wit, "A torn piece of paper..." (the cardboard page is actually torn) "is just the beginning": the beginning of a smile for an alligator. Various spills and blobs are transformed into animals, a crumpled piece of paper becomes wool for a sheep, and in the book's standout scene, a panel with a hole in the center telescopes outward, accordion-style, to reveal a tiny creature way at the bottom. Inspirational without being saccharine, this has gifty crossover potential. Ages 3–up. (Oct.)