The Adventurers

PreS-Gr 2—A little girl embarks on several adventures with her toys Velvet Cat, Russian Doll, Pirate, and Rocking Horse. They explore snow-capped mountains, sail the sea in search of sunken treasure, and look for lost cities in the hot desert sun. The artwork is done in painterly style, filling pages with rich, detailed illustrations. Simple dialogue ("I swim with mermaids and dive for pearls") keeps this story flowing, making this a wonderful book just before nap or bedtime. Endpapers make use of a pirate map; the title page hints at the story with a treasure chest stuffed to the brim with toys, binoculars, and puzzle pieces; and the back verso page has more of the girl's playthings toward the bottom, dotted with a magic lamp and compass, blending the artwork and story line well. One caveat is the incongruence of the font size related to the story. In some instances, the font starts out larger and then gets smaller, or begins small and gets larger, and it is not always related to dialogue and seems out of place.