WAKE UP, LET'S PLAY!

A celebration of childhood and friendship, replete with imagination, ambition, and even a bit of mischief.

Vivid, bright watercolors in warm and soft tones and the innate sense of play conveyed in each double-page image beautifully depict the shared experience of two inseparable playmates. The book opens at the home of one toddler, a white child, on the morning of a bright, sunny day; the minimal text exhorts, “Wake up, let’s play! What shall we play today?” Nine gorgeously rendered, highly detailed scenes of play follow, bookended with a final bedtime picture of the home of this child’s young friend; this character, who presents black, looks out the window as the text reads: “Night, night, sleep tight. What shall we play tomorrow?” Intervening scenes take place indoors, outdoors, and across seasons, so the book simultaneously conveys the sense of a full day of play and the passage of time as well. A single, brief description accompanies each scene; the image conveys most of the content: “Let’s play birthday parties,” “…castles,” “…snowmen,” etc. Toddler imagination is on full display, for better and for worse. “Let’s play stormy seas” shows them fully clothed in an overflowing bathtub, spraying water everywhere. The black child, playing “chef,” strews paper cupcake liners all over the kitchen; the white child scrawls a crayon masterpiece on a wall while playing “artist.”

Touching, memorable, exquisite.