A LONG WAY
by Katherine Ayres & illustrated by Tricia Tusa
Historical novelist Ayres uses just 32 words to transport a wrapped gift of enticingly odd shape, and the child who bears it, to Grandma’s house. Most of the action is in Tusa’s characteristic freely drawn, free-spirited pictures anyway, as the child busily uses sticks, a length of rope, and other found materials to convert a cardboard carton into a car, a boat, an airplane, and a subway car in succession, then makes the journey’s final lap on “feet feet feet.” Grandma meets her in the garden, opens the present—a watering can (“Hooray!”)—and cheerily invites her to tea. All smiles and busy play, this outdoorsy alternative or companion for Marisabina Russo’s Big Brown Box (2000) or Patricia Lee Gauch’s classic Christina Katerina and the Box (1968) celebrates the way children can turn almost anything to ingenious, imaginative use—and will send readers of any age out in search of their own boxes. (Picture book. 5-7)