The Great Expedition

Young Robert and his band of “brave young explorers”—five children, portrayed with various skin tones, plus a terrier-like pooch—are entrusted one morning with delivering a “valuable” ribbon-tied parcel to an unidentified recipient. “They were a ramshackle bunch,” writes Carnavas (My Brother Ben) about the trek-costumed crew, “but each member had a duty essential to the journey.” As they make their way across “rugged terrain” that’s easily identifiable as a playground, the band dwindles due to an insect incident, adult intervention, and downright desertion, leaving only Robert and Will. Braving hunger and thirst, they are at long last greeted with open arms by the parcel’s recipient: a grandmotherly figure revealed to live just on the other side of the playground. Even readers too young to be acquainted with the tropes of documentary-style narration should sense there is good-natured spoofing underway. But this work also understands that the responsibility of an errand is a big deal for little kids, and the largely single-plane drawings, rendered in watercolor and ink, strike a fine balance between mock-seriousness and earnest adventure. Ages 4–7. (Aug.)