MY AUNT CAME BACK

An unusual board book—and entry in the Harper Growing Tree series—that stars an irresistible aunt and a galloping text. Seven destinations and verses describe her travels, e.g., ``My aunt came back from Timbuktu/She brought me back a wooden shoe./My aunt came back from Pakistan/She brought me back a painted fan.'' At the end, the niece becomes a traveler, too. Every spread shows the curve of the earth in the background, with a building in the style of the country the aunt has visited on the left, and the niece's apartment building on the right. The aunt wears wild and exotic clothing throughout, and sports wonderfully decorated and adorned braids, but what emerges is her independence and sense of adventure, which she succinctly and affectionately passes on to her niece in very few pages. (Board book. 1-3)