The Lost House

To call this a seek-and-find book doesn’t come close to conveying the eccentricity of newcomer Cronin’s creation, in which Grandad—a portly, upper-middle-class bulldog—and his two grandpuppies try to find the elder’s belongings in a magnificent old mansion crammed with porcelain vases, model ships, flypaper, heraldic shields, and portraits of ancestors with bandaged noses (there are a surprising number of these). Each spread shows a particular room in which readers must find a certain object: “In his yellow bathroom, Grandad keeps his fishing tackle and his teeth. He really can’t go out without his teeth! Can you find them?” Each object is findable, though readers must contend not only with the amount of items crammed into the images but also with the retina-searing shades of neon pink, orange, and other colors in which the rooms are decorated—it’s as though forcing oneself to stare at the pages long enough to locate the missing objects is part of the challenge. Palette extremities aside, Cronin’s silkscreenlike images are elegant as can be, resulting in a rich and suggestive excursion into a quietly unconventional world. Ages 3–7. (Sept.)