My Day in the Garden

From Publishers Weekly Undaunted by rain, four girls spend a day in a "garden," thanks to their access to a room teeming with costumes. "It's time/ to start/ the show," begins the text, spread out across three pages; three paintings, rendered in Lobel's (Alison's Zinnia) characteristically sunny style, present three girls in colorful slickers arriving for a play date, discovering the props and costumes and changing into blue morning-glory ensembles. Then comes hide-and-seek with a "toad," "flower counting" (the girls, decked out as psychedelically winged butterflies, count the blooms in a patterned rug, paintings, tablecloth, etc.), "berry-picking" (two parents offer bowls of fruit to the girls, who are dressed as a mixed flock of birds) and so forth. The dress-up extravaganza lasts right up to bedtime, and then dreams extend the day's wonders. Ford's (Little Elephant) minimal text gives free reign to the illustrations' flower-power, the dense patterns and energy just barely contained within crisp white pages. Lush vine and rose wallpaper, curtains of billowing bowers and confetti-blossomed blankets are among the furnishings that amplify the slim story into a stimulating visual experience. Ages 4-up. Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc. From School Library Journal PreSchool-K-Kept indoors on a rainy day, a young child and her friends stage a fantastic theater production in which they dress as garden flowers and creatures. Each page is dominated by a bright watercolor-and-gouache painting, cluttered and surrealistic and full of professional-looking costumes. The children have breakfast in morning-glory outfits, and then become butterflies, birds, ladybugs, crickets, crows, worms, snails, and dragonflies. Throughout the day, the girl's parents feed and admire the youngsters; as night draws near, the friends go home and she is tucked into bed. A few large-print words on each page describe the day's events, but they seem to be there only for the purpose of holding the detailed, richly colored artwork together. The pictures can be pored over and discussed by readers and listeners and are best appreciated one-on-one.