Just How Long Can A Long String Be?!
PreSchool-Grade 2—Ant asks Bird the title question, and Bird answers by taking his small friend on a journey. As the white string crosses each colorful spread, Bird presents both playful and practical possibilities. "Will it finish a necklace?/A banjo?/A mop?/Will it partner a puppet?/A yo-yo?/A top?" By using pale overlapping images, Baker creates a sense of movement in many of the illustrations. A palette of pastels captures the beauty of spring with sweet pea vines climbing toward the sun, a kite flying in a powder blue sky, and Bird weaving string into her nest. At journey's end, Ant says, "Thank you, Bird!/Now I see…/a string's just as long/as I need it to be." Pair this lovely book with Ezra Jack Keats's Jennie's Hat(HarperCollins, 1966; o.p.) for a fine spring storytime.—Mary Jean Smith, Southside Elementary School, Lebanon, TNCopyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.