LITTLE HOUSE, LITTLE TOWN

Beck’s mood piece pairs one or two lines of declarative text per spread with spacious, simply composed scenes to evoke the unhurried pace of a day in a small town. A couple with a baby and their little red house form visual anchors as the view moves down a street, past lawns and trees to a group of shops, then back through a park, and inside for a quiet evening. “Daddy rocks his boy to sleep. And with a kiss upon the cheek, he puts the baby down . . . in his little crib, in their little house, in the little town.” Though at least some other town residents appear, playing or walking along, this isn’t so much about a community as about its idyllic, laid-back daily round. Soothing, but—particularly compared to the likes of Amy Schwartz’s A Glorious Day (p. 229) and other urbanized slices of life—one-dimensional. (Picture book. 4-6)