Jay offers a worthy companion to her ABC: A Child’s First Alphabet Book (2003) that is winsome and clever, with many layers to explore. It opens with, “1 one little girl sleeping” and readers see Jay’s blue crescent moon shining over a little girl with blonde braids asleep with her fairy-tale volume open on the bed. Follow what she dreams of on her Mother Goose flight—three little pigs, seven magic beans, nine golden eggs—as each number reflects a particular familiar fairy tale. At ten, count back—eight fancy footmen, four royal mattresses—and each heroine from Sleeping Beauty to Red Riding Hood has the golden braids of the sleeping child. The final spread shows the sweet-faced sun shining on the “1 one little girl waking” and her bright room filled with toys and objects from her story-filled dreams. The pictures, in Jay’s signature vibrant craquelature surfaces, connect fragments of each story to the others, making something to enjoy again and again. At the back, she identifies the 16 stories referenced within. Just wonderful. (Picture book. 4-7)
