Magpie Magic: A Tale of Colorful Mischief

In this wordless book, a drawing of a magpie comes to life. The artist (only the hands, a child's, are visible) and magpie both sketch using colored pencils, and the artist is as bent upon keeping the magpie as the bird is upon getting away. After being lured into a purple cage by some red cherries, the magpie escapes by using an eraser to create a hole in the cage. Wilson (Look Again!) makes fine use of a concept familiar at least since Harold and the Purple Crayon, and her visual story accelerates easily as the artist and bird begin to race each other. Each spread introduces only one or two colors at a time, with the rest of the illustration in finely detailed black and white; when all the colors appear in a single picture at the end, with each color labeled, a lesson has been delivered. Older readers who have long since mastered their reds, blues and greens will still find enough to engage them in the quick-moving plot. Ages 4-8. (Mar.)