A Good Day by Kevin Henkes is a delightful addition to the board book market. How refreshing to read a tale for the youngest reader that has a multilevel plot. Whether it is a bad day for a yellow bird, a white dog, an orange fox, or a brown squirrel, there is a solution around the corner to uplift everyone's spirits. I especially liked the bird who merely forgot his problem and chose to fly higher than ever. And then the bird's mishap is what touches a little girl causing her to announce, "Mama! What a good day!"
Kevin's thick-lined, realistic watercolors occupy the right side of the spread during the bad day litany. A striped page signals the story's turn and then all the illustrations sit on the left side, until the last page turn when text and image share a space together.
Subtle imagery placement, teamed with the tightest word structure, yields a beautiful board board. First released as a picture book, The New York Times Book Review called A Good Day, "a masterpiece, an almost perfect picture book." And maybe they were right, because maybe A Good Day is a perfect board book.
A Good Day
by Kevin Henkes
Greenwillow Books, 2010
A friend has just had a baby and I'm gathering a selection of books for the new one - and I think this has just made it on to the list! Thanks for the recommendation.
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