THE ORANGE BOOK

In authoritatively drawn illustrations that might have been devised as a showcase for the brash, sophisticated style associated with The New Yorker (exemplified on its annually repeated cover), 14 oranges from a single tree go their separate ways—to a lunch room, juggling act, marmalade factory, construction crew, etc.—all providing opportunities to display techniques of representing settings, perspectives, and, especially, classic caricatures, including six students doing a still life. Except for the brilliant oranges, the drawings are in a nicely complementary blue. Recently chosen for a Gold Medal by the Society of Illustrators, an offbeat counting book to amuse and educate the eye. (Picture book. 3+)