Finding Things

“If you found a little ball on the grass,” begins this second-person work from married collaborators Henkes and Dronzek (Little Houses), “and it was there for days, you could take it home.” The red ball sits amid green grass thickly stroked with the illustrator’s characteristic visual simplicity. Other overlooked, low-to-the ground objects soon appear, free for the taking: a flower growing from a sidewalk crack, a box on garbage day. A peaceful still life features the new acquisitions; the family dog sleeps contentedly with the red ball, the flower springs from a glass on the table, the box sits saved “for something good.” Suddenly, another abandoned entity is encountered. Lost in green leaves, a white kitten opens its pink mouth. “If you found a kitten in the bushes and it was crying and crying and it didn’t belong to anyone... and you got permission... you could take it inside to keep.” Obstacles overcome, the kitten appears cradled on the shoulder of a pale-skinned child, in whose home everything fits together—the kitten has a box to sleep in, a ball to play with, and a flower to look at. Serendipitously encountered objects present themselves as truly valuable in this compact, thoughtful story about paradise found. Ages 4–8. (May)