RUNAWAY SIGNS

Once school’s out for summer, the kids on a School Crossing sign decide to take a vacation.

Leaping off to adventure, they encounter a bike sign (conveniently, an equally sentient and riderless tandem) inviting it along. The three cruise the bike path, beckoning other signs to take a break from their own jobs. In Holub’s wry, pun-filled text, much of it delivered in word bubbles, many signs “[jump] at the chance.” Farrell’s humorous illustrations depict the black silhouettes of newly liberated, ambulatory figures (a park ranger, hikers, a bear, road workers). Entire signs, like HAIRPIN TURN and ONE WAY, sport sturdy white arms and legs. This animated throng is soon cavorting on the rides at the Adventureland amusement park. From atop the Ferris wheel the alarmed kids who started this all clearly spy the signless town’s growing confusion: Cars collide on a one-way street, and summer school students are unsure about safe routes to school. In character, a certain sign takes charge. “STOP! The party’s OVER!...please proceed back to your signposts.” Racing back, lessons learned, the signs resolve never to leave their posts. Almost never, that is. Final pages reveal them making quick dashes to the ice cream wagon for double dip cones: It’s summer, after all. This union of dialogue-rich text and panoramic representations of a diverse town provides a just-right balance between community-safety instruction and kid-appealing hijinks.

Perfect for end-of-the–school-year read-alouds and good fun all year long.