Have You Seen This Book?

A brown-skinned, bespectacled child with short, fluffy dark hair searches for their missing picture book, The Book of Yore, which they have thoroughly customized with stickers, crossed-out words, taped-in pictures and photos, and more. Emphasizing the refrain “Have you seen this book?” the unnamed child explains both what the fantastical story is about (“This book has everything—a princess, unicorns, a knight, a wizard”), and how they have changed it in DiTerlizzi’s simple, child-friendly prose: “There’s no hedgehog stickers on this page,/ because it’s not as creepy as the goblin page./ And also because I ran out of hedgehog stickers.” Booth’s graphite and digital art gives the child animation-like expressions and movements, positioning them against mostly white backgrounds while the full-color Book of Yore spreads open before the reader on each page, clearly showcasing both the text of the book and the child’s executive changes. A humorous, endearing fourth-wall-breaking picture book. Ages 4–8. (Aug.)