When You Need Wings

On this book's wordless opening pages, a girl who waves goodbye to one parent and walks hand-in-hand with another caretaker is palpably apprehensive, evidenced by her expressive face and body language. As the two arrive at Little Dreamers Preschool, a comforting, unseen narrator acknowledges the child's emotions ("you are afraid,/ and you wish you could just disappear") and offers a fanciful solution: "shut your eyes and listen./ Do you hear it?/... That is the sound of your very own wings,/ beating within." In swirling, dreamlike pencil-and-watercolor illustrations, Judge (Homes in the Wild) reveals the child floating through the air, guided by white birds, while the voice advises her to use those wings "to fly far away,/ if you need to today,/ to find treasures/ that live inside/ your mind." The child lands in a sunlit forest and frolics with "bravehearted" new animal friends before reappearing at school, where her peers sport clothing featuring images of the forest creatures. Judge's visual jewel is an exquisite close-up of the reassured girl's face, in which she confidently locks eyes with the reader. A tender tale about coping with first-day jitters. Ages 4-8. Agent: Linda Pratt, Wernick & Pratt Agency. (Mar.)

PreS-Gr 3--There are times as a child and even as an adult when you feel a little overwhelmed and you just need to go off on your own. Sometimes removing yourself physically isn't possible, but escaping into your imagination is always a welcome option. Our protagonist leaves her warm, safe home with her preoccupied father to head to her busy preschool, where there is always some chaos. She uncertainly hugs her dad goodbye and begins to imagine flying away to a magical, safe place. The animals there make her laugh and dance and take her troubles away. Once her bravery returns, she returns to the present and begins to plunge into the tumult of play on the playground. Imagination is such an important, potentially soothing part of childhood. In this story, all of the animals she imagines come from the schoolyard she is standing in. From hats to T-shirts, the animals are there and incorporated into her imaginings. Imagination is front and center in Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are, and a double-page spread of our little one strutting with a lion is reminiscent of that famous story. Judge's book will be a lovely jumping-off point to explore imagination in art, storytelling, and many other ways. Her soft watercolors perfectly illustrate the calming lure of the imagination. VERDICT This is an ideal book for elementary libraries looking to encourage imagination among children.--Joan Kindig, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA