Story of a Main Street

In another of Goodall's outstanding wordless picture books, the artist traces the evolution of an English Main Street. Medieval wattle-and-daub houses give way to overhanging Tudor structures, which in turn are replaced by the buildings of succeeding eras up through the present. Goodall's watercolors portray Main Street, in all its incarnations, as a vital, dynamic center of activity. Intimate, close-up views of shop and coffeehouse interiors complement and extend the wider, panoramic street scenes. A work that offers a broad historical overview of architecture, fashion and customs, it is also one to pore over for fine detail: a Georgian barber lathering his client's beard, strings of sausages hanging from the beams of a Victorian general store and a shop window advertising ""monkey brand soap'' are only a few of the many delights to be gleaned from repeated readings. All ages. (October)