WHERE ARE YOU?

Two simply drawn worms (or maybe they are snakes), one pink and one green, play peekaboo in various locations: in the grass, on a boat, under the lily pad, in an urban setting, in a plane, through a meadow, and in the park.

Children will have fun spotting the cleverly disguised critters as they masquerade variously as a mast on a boat, a lily pad, and a grassy strand of weed in a pond. At one point, the pink one fills the full length of a plane but is visible through every window, making it look as though it has half-drawn pink shades. The pink one peeks out of grasses in the flower-dotted meadow and revolves around the wheel of a bike before the green one finally chases it up a light post. Williamson’s simple, hand-lettered text is well-complemented by her flat, colored gouache-and–cut-paper illustrations. They provide enough variety of composition to pose a reasonable challenge to toddlers and offer both adults and children plenty to talk about besides the worms: one large fish is bedecked with painterly stripes; a blackbird has one blue leg and one yellow leg, and it dangles a cherry from its beak; who is driving those trucks—and where are they?

The whole is a pleasingly fresh take on concepts of up/down and above/below as well as a sometimes-challenging exercise in observation.