Out the Window

Packaged in a handsome slipcover, this near-wordless accordion-style story follows a small hamsterlike creature as he tries to retrieve his ball after it sails out his window. As Young shows the animal trying and failing to reach the high-up window (his “flying leap” ends with a faceplant), readers see tantalizing hints that something amazing is happening outside, something that appears to involve slides, pennants, bubbles, drums, and flamingos. Flipping the book over reveals a wild parade that features a shrimp on a unicycle, a bat on a wire sculpture, a juggling rabbit, and more. It’s like two delightful stories in one—one subtly hilarious, the other wonderfully trippy. Ages 1–4. (Mar.)