Yay, You!: Moving Up and Moving On

Like Dr. Seuss's Oh, the Places You'll Go!, Boynton's latest picture book seems geared more for the graduation gift market than the children's bookshelf. She strikes up a chipper note from the start, offering introductory congratulations of an unspecified nature to the reader ("You did it!/ You're done!/ You made it!/ You're through!") then asks, "Now what will you do?" A tongue-in-cheek dash, in rhyme, through the many options life holds follows ("Do you long for adventure?/ Do you love to read maps?/ Would you rather stay home/ with your chocolate,/ perhaps?"). If Boynton treads a well-worn path here, offering advice that is somewhat generic and bland ("Whatever you do,/ whether near or so far,/ I know you'll be great./ You already are"), the artwork plays against the relentlessly upbeat tone and helps to hoist the book above greeting-card sentiment. Filled with her trademark bestiary of droll, quizzical characters, from a cow meditating in the lotus position ("oom") to a frog with an outboard motor attached to his lily pad ("some like to go fast"), the amusing scenarios will prod laughter from young and old alike. All ages. (Apr.)

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