SHIP AHOY!

In a third book that links the imagination of a small child with the toy vehicles in his possession, S°s (Trucks, Trucks, Trucks, p. 538, etc.) puts realistic scenes of a child on the lefthand pages, and the scenes the child envisions on right. On one page, a boy sits on a sofa with a couple of boxes and a couple of poles and a small blanket. A blue scatter rug is on the floor. Opposite that scene is the same boy, but now the sofa is in a state of transformation. Gradually, through the pages, it is first an amorphous conveyance, then an inflatable, a canoe, a sailboat, a junk, until it becomes a great liner. The little rug, of course, becomes the sea. The pages march correspondingly along, with the boy arranging the boxes and poles into his vessel of choice. A fold-out page reveals a terrific sea monster, but a mother appears, too, with her vacuum cleaner, bringing boy and readers back to shore. S°s is at his simple best, using broad lines to depict reality, and then the spidery, dot-dash penwork to shape his fantasy world; he and children speak the same language to weave their dreams. (Picture book. 3-6)