ROUND LIKE A BALL!

With a string of rhythmic clues—“It’s round like a ball and it’s hot and cold . . . . It’s round like a ball and it’s wet and dry . . . .”—Ernst invites readers to join an extended family in a simple guessing game that ends with an eye-filling triple foldout portrait of our planet. Featuring figures large and clear enough to be visible from the back row, along with a color scheme laid out in dappled brushwork and a page design incorporating die-cut holes and artfully placed text, this displays an uncommon narrative and visual harmony that will effectively draw even very young children into its theme of global awareness. Closing with a brief, discussion-starting list of ways to conserve energy and natural resources, it stands with G. Brian Karas’s On Earth (2005) and even Charles Shaw’s classic It Looked Like Spilt Milk (1947) for its inspired simplicity. (Picture book. 5-8)