Lottie Paris and the Best Place
Lottie, an exuberant African American preschooler, returns in a second zestful picture book. Lottie likes to wake beneath the stars and, in a sure nod to Madeleine L’Engle, the swiftly tilting planets that adorn her ceiling. Her favorite activity, however, is visiting the best place in the world—the library—where she knows she shouldn’t yell or color in the books, and where she “follows the rules, mostly.” Carl, a dinosaur devotee, also remembers not to blow bubbles in the library or spill food on books—sometimes. When these two enthusiastic readers meet in the children’s book room, an instant friendship forms. The bright gouache paintings, swirling with texture and patterns, depict a child’s perspective in which Lottie’s Papa Pete and other adults remain obscured while Lottie and Carl’s parallel play (or in this case, parallel dreaming) builds their friendship. A delightful book for sharing before a trip to the library, during library storytime, or simply to activate a preschooler’s imagination. Preschool-Kindergarten. --Leeper, Angela