PANORAMA

A sparely beautiful tour of the world. A line of text along the bottom edge of each accordion-fold page places young readers precisely: “In the great desert, look how the sun is so white, the shadows so black. Feel how the sand burns so hot.” The muscular black-and-white line traces the dunes, a camel train, a scorpion. “Adrar Desert, Sahara, Mauritania,” says the tag line. Each page blends into the next, moving readers around the world, past Highland cattle grazing by Loch Ness in Scotland; the Turkish coast, where scents are almost visible in the stark black-and-white air; a field of butterflies in Romania; snow falling over the Dolomites in Italy. Then the folds reverse, and readers view those scenes at night, without text: The Galápagos tortoise sleeps in its shell; a wolf howls by an Alaskan waterfall.The dramatic visuals are both easy to comprehend and repay close attention, as details emerge and the exotic locales become familiar. Watch for children stretching out the whole across a floor, and eagerly turning it over to see the dreams in the world at night. (Picture book. 5-10)