Don't Cross the Line!

PreS-Gr 2—Quirky characters play with the book's structure in this witty Portuguese parable. A guard stands at attention near the volume's gutter. He allows no one to cross, and foot traffic of the most whimsical sort piles up: dancing couples, punks, aliens, ghosts, escaped prisoners, bikers, astronauts, a basketball team, and more. People complain, but the guard stands fast, because "[My] general reserves the right to keep the page blank, so he can join the story whenever he feels like it." But when a boy's ball bounces across the gutter, the guard allows one or two to cross, which leads to a wild party across the spread—until the general and his soldiers march in (carrying machine guns). The crowd verbally defends the guard and carries him off in joyful chaos. The illustrations, done in marker, are full of surprises and details for curious readers, including Little Red Riding Hood muttering, "Don't talk to strangers" and endpapers that demonstrate that the author and illustrator are both present in the narrative. This title's meta sensibilities put it in the cheerful company of Hervé Tullet's and Richard Byrne's works, and the lesson it touches on is made light and digestible by the illustrations and speech bubbles in bright colors.