THE BOLD BOY

A fresh-faced lad frolics through this gracefully silly, rhythmically told version of an old nursery tale, appropriating one thing after another for his very own in what seems to be the perfect example of the toddler’s creed: If I want it, it’s mine. Detailed illustrations in mixed media and collage set the boy and his adventures in a lighthearted, naïve countryside. The Bold Boy is a sweet-looking young fellow who finds a pea and leverages it into a selection of progressively larger acquisitions: from the person to whom he entrusts the care of the pea, he claims the hen who ate it; from the owner of the pig who frightens the hen, he claims the pig; and from the donkey who chases away the pig, he claims the donkey. “Naughty, naughty,” exclaims the boy each time—and he takes the animal from its owner (“for that’s the law where I come from”) and goes on his merry way. At last, of course, the boy gets his comeuppance, his jolly dance interrupted but briefly by the reckoning. Before the gloom sets in, the Bold Boy finds another pea on the ground and saunters off across Ray’s dreamy and delightful, radiantly detailed country landscape. One might only wish to follow him across the next hill to see what the Bold Boy does next. (Picture book. 2-5)