YES, DEAR

Although Kay's special autumn leaf is magical—it makes her sand pies real, lets her converse with a caterpillar her own size on a giant rose, and turns her patchwork quilt robe into an elaborate kingdom—her parents and siblings (each busy with an activity that sparks one of Kay's adventures) brush off her pleas for notice. Only Granny recognizes the leaf's true power, and she understands completely, without even being told. The scenario is familiar, but Jones is unusually imaginative and adroit in shaping it; Philpot's pen and watercolor illustrations are also sympathetic, deftly drawn and full of amusing details of both the real and the fantasy worlds. (Picture book. 4-8)