Rosie's Magic Horse
Rosie finds a discarded ice-pop stick and adds it to the others collected in her cigar box. Drawn with expressive little faces, the sticks discuss what they can be without their ice pops. Maybe a horse, muses the new stick. Meanwhile, Rosie overhears her parents say that they can’t pay their bills. Longing to help, she falls asleep and dreams of Stickerino, a flying, talking horse that gallops out of the cigar box and takes her on a treasure hunt. The next morning, Rosie surprises her dad with a chest full of gold. While the story has all the improbability of a child’s own fantasy, the telling is lively, and the artwork is captivating. When the clock strikes midnight and rises into the air carrying Rosie on its back, the book soars into realms of imagination and hope. Blake’s expressive ink drawings with watercolor washes depict, with equal conviction, parents discussing the family’s troubles, Stickerino soaring over distant lands, and pirates lining up at an ice-cream cart. A playful, picture-book confection for imaginative children. Preschool-Grade 2. --Carolyn Phelan