A Perfect Day
by Lane Smith; illus. by the author
Preschool, Primary    Roaring Brook    32 pp.
2/17    978-1-62672-536-2    $17.99

Just what is the definition of a perfect day? Well…it depends on your perspective. All the animals in Bert’s backyard are having the best day. Cat enjoys being in the flowerbed in the sunshine. “It was a perfect day for Cat.” Dog loves sitting in the wading pool. “It was a perfect day for Dog.” Bert fills Chickadee’s feeder and drops a few corncobs on the ground for Squirrel: perfect days for them as well. But then Bear arrives — whose idea of a perfect day flies directly in the faces of all the others. Bear bursts in from the left side, interrupting the quiet reverie. At first we see less than half a bear, but soon the enormous mammal fills the entire double-page spread. “It was a perfect day for Dog. It was a perfect day for Cat.” With the text using so few words (though, admirably, much repetition), Smith tells the story mostly through his textured mixed-media illustrations, which reflect each animal’s joy-filled frolic. In the end, it’s hard to blame Bear for breaking up the party — its glee is contagious as it rolls on the ground, gorging on chickadee food, playing in the wading pool, and making bear-angels in the flowerbed.

From the January/February 2017 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.