Cassie, the main character of Ringgold’s beloved Tar Beach (1999) and two related board books, appears here in a large-format work designed for toddlers and preschoolers (and ESL students) who are learning to name objects and people. The format alternates between three types of pages: a central illustration from the Tar Beach world with one simple descriptive sentence, all framed with one of Ringgold’s glorious quilt-square borders; a simple sentence followed by a nine-block grid of labeled single objects and people; and a double-page spread incorporating those single objects and characters into a neighborhood scene with additional labels. These one-word labels are all capitalized, which is unfortunate from an educational standpoint, as the groundwork is being laid with prereaders for conventions of print such as capitalizing proper nouns and the first word of complete sentences. Despite this drawback, Ringgold’s many fans will welcome another story about Cassie, and this title serves as a bridge between the Cassie board books and the more complex Tar Beach. Eye-catching endpapers with a bright alphabet-block quilt design provide another way for young children to practice their prereading skills. (Picture book. 1-4)
