SOMEONE BIGGER

This fun outing has three things going for it: the story, the writing, and the art—a triple threat in the picture-book department. The rhymed narrative is cheerful, telling the cumulative tale of a kite that keeps going skyward, taking Dad and a host of others—including a postman, a bank robber, “ . . . a policeman riding on a horse, / a bridegroom (and his bride, of course),” even a rhinoceros, a tiger, and a kangaroo—up for a surprise ride when they grab the string. Young Sam keeps pleading—“Can I hold it now? . . . I’m old enough—I know I am!” But the refrain is refrained: “No, you’re too small! . . . This kite needs someone bigger.” When Sam finally gets his hands on the string, he pulls them all back to terra firma. No tricks, just so—“I’m not too small, and as you see, this kite needs someone just like me!” Bravo, Sam, and a decided nod to Reynolds’s art, too, with its buoyant, serene tomfoolery full of round-mouthed, dot-eyed whimsy. (Picture book. 3-6)