PIPER'S FORT FRENZY

In this picture-book sequel, a young girl learns to channel her chaotic fort-building obsession into something more enduring.

Piper, a dark-haired, honey beige-skinned elementary schooler, isn’t allowed to revamp her bedroom, but has built 32 play forts throughout the summer. These have tended toward an uneasy balance of wild imagination and architectural instability—a pattern soon to be replicated. Piper puts her foot through her 33rd fort (cardboard box-based). Her 34th spills over from bedroom to kitchen, causing parental conniptions. Her 35th incorporates the dining table and so has to be dismantled at dinner time. Drained of energy and ideas, Piper retreats to her boring old bedroom—and then has a brainstorm. She asks her dad for an outside playhouse, and they build a treehouse together (“We used our tool belts every Saturday for two months”). Cino narrates with straightforward prose from Piper’s perspective, offering occasional emphases in bold and deftly capturing both the buoyant joy and the flitting, insular logic of an early elementary schooler. Peres illustrates in a busy, big-eyed cartoon style across single- and two-page spreads. These very much embrace the madcap fort-building spirit, layering commandeered household items and a menagerie of stuffed toys (plus Gary the pet guinea pig) on hazy, autumnal-hued backdrops. In Piper, young readers will discover a memorable, gung-ho, and upbeat protagonist, tellingly aware of her parents’ likely reactions—if blissfully unmindful of them.

Fun and frenetic; a lively look at imaginative play in a real-world setting.