THE BEST PLACE TO READ

If a good man is hard to find, that’s nothing compared to a good reading chair, as Bertram and Bloom’s youthful protagonist discovers when he goes looking for the right place to read his new book. Using an ear-pleasing rhyme scheme, readers follow the boy from chair to chair as each presents a problem: “A new book for me— / I can’t wait to read! / I run to my own little chair. / I’m growing too tall and the seat is too small, / So I am not comfortable there.” As seen through the illustrations, a slick fusion of soft and razor-edged computer images that sport electric coloring and quirky shading, the boy travels through his house, finding each chair encumbered by animals, noise, burst seams, sprinkler systems, disruptive siblings, and wayward springs. But he is a dogged soul, pushing on until he comes to an undeniably fine spot for a youngster to curl up with a book: “The best place to be, just my book, Mom, and me—” It’s a sweet ending, one that avoids being mawkish because it has been so hard-won. (Picture book. 3-6)