PEEK!

From the Caldecott Honor–winning team of Hush! A Thai Lullaby (1996), an engaging, repetitive rhyme in which a father asks, “Jut-Ay, want to play?” inviting his young daughter to play peek-a-boo, although she’s already begun the game, donning her umbrella, leading the reader over the window sill, outdoors, and into the story. “Jut-Ay, peek-a-boo, is that you?” the father exclaims to each animal he encounters, all while his daughter hides in the background. Onomatopoetic text conveys animal responses to the father’s query. The story concludes with the little girl gleefully exclaiming, “I found you!” Father and daughter are face to face, he with her umbrella, she with his straw hat, and an encore appearance of the animals he has met. Meade’s watercolor and cut-paper collages are drenched in tropical colors: chartreuse, apricot, bright blue. Curving lines, intersecting planes comprised of juxtaposed textures—a sheer fluttering curtain, wood-slatted blinds, and a woven rattan basket echo the game’s energy. Young readers will delight in finding the little girl and her umbrella hiding in each luscious, sun-drenched scene. (Picture book. 3-6)