Albert’s Quiet Quest

PreS-Gr 2–The Mile End Kids are back in this follow-up to Colette’s Lost Pet. Albert’s row house yard opens onto an alley, where he goes seeking some peace and quiet in order to read. Noticing a painted beach scene someone has dropped there, blond, fair-skinned Albert sets up a chair and imagines himself sunning by the shore. As a series of other children with various skin tones interrupt his solitude, he incorporates them into his fantasy. Two girls potting plants become sand castle builders and are joined by badminton players, a girl with a baby buggy, and kids playing music and dancing. When Albert loses patience with the noisy beach scene and yells that he is trying to read, the children scatter, only to return, one by one, with their own books. Albert tries to apologize, but his friends cheerfully shush him. Pencil, watercolor, and ink illustrations, with Photoshop coloration, are primarily black-and-white with teal and orange used as accent colors.