What’s Next Door?

Carter, the crocodile previously seen in Open Very Carefully, needs readers’ help to get home in this metafictional follow-up. As in the previous book, an unseen narrator directs the action, asking readers to trace dotted lines to create a series of doors for Carter to travel through. The doors, which appear as die-cuts, take Carter to ocean, desert, and snowy landscapes, requiring additional intervention (“Let’s try to get rid of the snow. Can you turn the book upside down and shake the snow out?”) O’Bryne builds light suspense (“I do hope he isn’t going to eat us”) while giving readers an active role in helping Carter make it back to his swampy lagoon. Ages 3–7. (Jan.)