Playground

A boy, a girl, and their cowboy-hat-wearing cat are en route to the playground, and their journey is anything but ordinary. Van Hout’s airy washes of paint create a landscape of mazelike paths for the children to traverse, which readers can trace with their fingers (red arrow icons on each page show the places to start and stop). The boy and girl use logs and lily pads to cross a river, make their way through a thicket of blackberry vines, and jump between pink clouds, accumulating a retinue of animals including a goat, fox, alligator, and deer. While readers may find some of the more complex paths slightly hard to track, the interactive, anything-can-happen nature of the trip all but begs for follow-up readings. Ages 3–6. (Apr.)