Madlenka
"In the universe, on a planet, on a continent, in a country, in a city,  on a block, in a house, in a window, in the rain, a little girl named Madlenka  finds out her tooth wiggles." To further illustrate where exactly this girl fits  into the universe, Peter Sís's endpapers depict a tiny blue planet Earth  with a red dot, then a bigger Earth and a bigger red dot, then an aerial view of  the south part of Manhattan Island, then city blocks, then lo! a small Madlenka  in an apartment window. And, since she has a loose tooth that wiggles, she  simply must tell everyone.As she traipses around New York, she sees the whole world in the way a child  might peer into a sugar egg at a colorful three-dimensional diorama within. At  Mr. Gaston's patisserie, he tells her about Paris as he bakes croissants and  madeleines. Readers peer through a die-cut square in his bakery window to  glimpse the Eiffel Tower. Turn the page, and an exciting blue landmark map of  Paris unfolds. (Is that a tiny petit prince we see as well?) At Mr. Singh's  newspaper stand, our window on the world takes us to winged elephants and onion  domes and the many-armed gods of India. Mr. Ciao from Italy ("Buon  giorno, Maddalena") makes visions of the Leaning Tower of Pisa and cats on  gondolas and the Coliseum dance through our heads. Throughout Sís's  enchanting, moody illustrations dances blonde-haired, lavender-clad,  yellow-booted Madlenka with her yellow umbrella--reminding us of what is really  important. "Madlenka! Where have you been?" "Well... I went around the world.  And I lost my tooth!"Fans of Sís's gorgeous work in Caldecott Honor BooksTibet: Through the Red BoxandStarry Messenger: Galileo  Galileiwill find an equally stunning, but more accessible book inMadlenka. Children will discover enough fascinating details to stand up  to hours of fierce page perusal, and adults will, as ever, marvel at  Sís's breathtaking artistry. (Ages 4 to 8)--Karin Snelson