WHEN I GROW UP

A little boy wonders aloud what he might be when he grows up and receives a number of suggestions from a variety of sources. The raindrop looks forward to being “the fastest river running through the hills,” while the chick expects to be “the loudest rooster who first meets the morning.” Die-cuts lead both boy and reader through the transformations, inviting inevitable comparison to Laura Vaccaro Seeger’s Caldecott Honor–winning First the Egg (2007). While this book lacks the other’s sublime, deceptively simple genius, it does offer some lovely images: The shadow, for instance, will become “the gentlest night, full of dreams.” Gore’s full-bleed acrylic-and–mixed-media illustrations are wonderfully gloppy and textured. The boy contemplates his option and then declares to his dad that he will be “just like you!” (Picture book. 3-5)