YOU ARE MY WISH

A grandmother teddy bear enjoys a day with her grandchild in this latest entry in the You Are My... series.

Ichikawa's soft watercolors place her characters against a clean white background, providing just enough detail that readers will get a sense of the setting. On a spring outing, they picnic, make daisy chains, swing, sing and snuggle. It's a pleasing interlude, as long as readers don't interrogate the text too hard: "I am your strong arms; / you are my fast airplane" works well, particularly as it accompanies a picture of grandma holding her grandchild up high, but "I am your home-baked bread; / you are my grape jelly" is both nonsensical and slightly icky.

With too many lines like the latter and not enough like the former, this well-intentioned book sinks under its own metaphors.