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A Perfect Day

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A Perfect Day 
Lane Smith
Roaring Brook Press, 2016.

Do you ever have some of those authors that you think “I basically just love everything that he/she does!”? So Lane Smith is one of those authors for me. I love so many of his books: Kid Sherriff and the Terrible Toads; John, Paul, George & Ben; and the illustrated Penguin Problems are just a few books that I LOVE dearly. So, when this next book was published I had high expectations (don’t we all when it is a new book from a loved author?). Well, let me just tell you—I loved this book. It made me laugh out loud. And let me tell you why.

So this book tells about the perfect day of some of the animals around one little house. The cat has a perfect day because Cat likes to be in the flower bed. The dog has a perfect day since a kind owner filled a kiddie pool full of water. A bird and a squirrel have a perfect day since the same kind human put out food for them. Then—suddenly—life isn’t quite so perfect for those animals. A bear decides to take over the yard. However, it turns out to be a perfect day—for the bear!

I love the story. I love that it makes me chuckle at the end. I also love the illustrations. They are a mixture of a couple of things. There are bits like the leaves and the details that almost look like texturized stamps or cut paper. Then there are bits like the animals that look like paint that has been texturized (think brush strokes) to make the animals feel more alive and expressive. Then there are the bits like the human and the house that are mostly thin outlines—which works since those bits are less important to the story of the animals and their day. Seriously, the textures of all the illustrations add such depth and detail to the story that it makes it all the better.

Yeah. This is another good book Mr. Smith. I think I will remain a fangirl of yours. Just please excuse me while I go and read more of your books again while I wait for your next happy work to be published…

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