In Plain Sight

An African-American girl named Sophie shares a brownstone with her parents and her wheelchair-bound grandfather, “who lives by the window.” He’s always there to wave goodbye as she boards the school bus, and he’s waiting to play a special game of hide-and-seek when she returns: Grandpa pretends to have lost an object, and intrepid Sophie locates each one, hidden in plain sight. The everyday items—a paperclip, rubber band, lemon drop—are cleverly but not impossibly hidden in Pinkney’s signature pencil and watercolor illustrations. Readers will delight in scouring Grandpa’s pleasingly detailed bedroom, which brims with books, art, and an ever-present tabby, to find the missing items before Sophie does. But the best part of this collaboration between the longtime editor and the Caldecott Medalist is the playfulness that oozes from Jackson’s well-chosen words and the warmth of Pinkney’s artwork. There’s one thing that’s never missing from this gentle story about a special bond between the generations, and that’s the love Grandpa and Sophie have for each other. Ages 4–7. [em]Illustrator’s agent: Sheldon Fogelman, Sheldon Fogelman Agency. (Sept.) [/em]