Finding Things
by Kevin Henkes; illus. by Laura Dronzek
Preschool    Greenwillow    32 pp.
5/24    9780063245662    $19.99

This adventure of discovery kicks off on the title-page spread with an adult and child walking a dog. The story’s second-person voice immediately engages readers: “If you found a little ball on the grass and it was there for days, you could take it home.” What about a flower? An empty box? A kitten? Each one ends up at the child’s home. Henkes constructs the text conditionally, which will spark many conversations with young children about what is fair for the taking: if the ball was there for multiple days; if the flower sprung forth from a crack in the sidewalk; if the box was on the curb as garbage; and if the kitten was scared and “didn’t belong to anyone and it didn’t have a mother and you got permission from everyone,” you would be “lucky” to take them home. The story taps into the inherent caretaking tendencies of many young children: the kitten is safe in a new home, sleeping in the warm box, playing with the red ball and dog. In nearly every spread, Dronzek’s brightly colored illustrations in multicolored borders appear on the recto; the text, perfect for emerging readers, is placed on the verso. Tableaux, dominated by simple square shapes, are reduced to their essentials: ball, flower, box, kitten—all “happy” in a warm home because the child took the time to notice them.

From the May/June 2024 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.