Delphine

Delphine lives in a small cabin high on top of a mountain with her three companions, a wolf, a guinea pig and a lion. One day she finds out that a present is waiting for her at the post office. Delphine thinks she knows what it is; she is happy about it, but she worries, too, as she walks a tightrope across a ravine, surfs down a waterfall and walks through a lightning storm. Full of doubts about the gift (readers still do not know what she has in mind), Delphine is afraid she'll fall off it, that it will go too fast, that she won't be able to stop it. At the post office, Delphine discovers that she was rightshe has a new bike. As she slowly gains skill in riding itshe falls a couple of times, of courseshe and the animals gradually lose their fear of it. Bang ( The Paper Crane ) has created a visually stimulating and entrancing book, and once again shown her versatility as a writer and illustrator. The vibrant pictures and the sparse, direct text are interdependent, while the interspersion of wordless pages that carry the story adds a creative and unusual aspect. All ages. (August)