JUST HOW LONG CAN A LONG STRING BE?

Little Ant’s exclamatory question allows Bird to produce a list of long and short ideas handily crafted from a ball of white string. In the air holding balloons or kites, in the house hanging a painting, in the garden tying vines of peas, Baker’s patterned rhyme beautifully balances the continual image of a white cord that loops along his elegant full page chalk/crayon–style drawings on pastel-hued, spring-like backgrounds. “Will it pull down a shade? / Will it turn on a light? / Will it fly in the sky / holding on to a kite?” Ant and Bird create clever applications exploring the many everyday basic uses for good string, ultimately and logically migrating to Bird’s adroit nest weaving. “Ah! / Will it weave through a nest? / That’s the string I like best!” Budding and new readers will easily fill in the rhyme as they match illustrations to context. Another winner for the pattern-book list. (Picture book. 3-6)