Wait! Wait!

PreS—The nearly incidental minimalistic text (the titular refrain) serves as an outline for Sakai's inspired illustrations, which capture tiny moments of a toddler's exploration of the world. On the first page, the youngster chases a butterfly, to the words, "Wait! Wait!" On the next, the butterfly flies away, "fluttering up in the air." And so it goes as the child discovers a lizard, some pigeons, and two cats, and finally is swung up onto Daddy's shoulders, to the words, "Here we go!" The spare text gives the illustrations room to shine and a child's imagination room to roam. The acrylic and oil pencil illustrations use simple lines and colors to capture both motion and emotion. The backgrounds are mostly white, with only the most important details sketched in, but the black of the pencil manages to give the earth and rocks and grass both texture and immediacy. The small details ground the illustrations in reality, and the blurred wings of the pigeons capture the movement in almost photographic reality. Sakai is a wizard with the medium, capturing the child's emotions with simple lines and bringing the animals fully to life. The limited use of color and paint emphasizes the texture of the cats' fur, the birds' wings, and the flowers' petals. Parents and toddlers will see themselves in these pages and delight in Sakai's ability to bring them to life. A quiet gem.—Amy Lilien-Harper, The Ferguson Library, Stamford, CT