THE GREAT EASTER EGG HUNT

Garland places realistic but processed-looking patterned eggs, hens, chicks, real and chocolate bunnies, baskets and other Easter-ish iconography in multiple layers for this browser’s-delight companion to Mystery Mansion (2001) and Christmas City (2002). Though linked by a slender plotline involving a lad who finds rhymed notes from his Aunt Jeanne that lead him to a brightly colored but industrialized land where factories pour out Easter candy year-round, most spreads are more or less independent—each offering a different visual challenge, from a maze to a “what doesn’t belong here?” parade. Providing a tally of his own at the end, the author invites viewers to count the holiday items in each scene and also to winkle out slightly concealed Easter greetings in a variety of languages scattered throughout. Not essential, but an inviting romp, falling on the visual complexity scale somewhere between Joan Steiner’s Look-Alikes Junior (1999) and the hyper-busy-ness of Where’s Waldo? (Picture book. 5-7)