Everything Is Grape!

When two kids meet up at a park, all-dialogue text by Heim (Hello, Tree) establishes almost immediately that one is on some kind of wordplay-fueled kick, insisting that everything they see is “grape.” “Oh my!” exclaims the child, portrayed with spectacles and a cloud of yellow hair; “This grape is shaped like a balloon.” When their friend, depicted with black hair and a yellow jacket, notes that the object actually is a balloon, the first child demurs: “if it were a balloon, you, see, it would be raisin up the sky.” In compositions that range from comic-style panels to full-on spreads, gouache- and colored pencil-textured drawings by Tran (Bijan Always Wins) keep this repartee on the sunny side. But a little wordplay can go a long way, and it takes awhile for the curly headed friend to reveal the root of all the punning (“I wanted you to have a grape day”). While the vine of friendship can be stretched to the breaking point, this offbeat work suggests, its resilience is often graper than we think. Protagonists are portrayed with pale skin. Ages 4–8. Agent (for author and illustrator): Kelly Sonnack, Andrea Brown Literary. (Oct.)