Outside! I See You See by Richard Jackson

MOM CALLS, "MAISIE, WILL YOU WALK THE DOG?"

DOG PULLING, MAISIE PUSHING, THEY SET OFF.

Tinker, like all dogs, is always ready for a walk, so Maisie and her brother Jonah decide to go outside to see what they can see. And what they can see is wondrous!

Tinker trees a cat and they see a tree with pointed leaves, which become the ears of a multitude of cats. A border of tall blooms becomes a popsicle garden. A swooping bird's trajectory becomes a sliding board, and two rows of wet sheets blowing on two clotheslines become a secret tunnel. The dangling branches of a weeping willow become bell ropes to pull to begin a carillon of chiming bells.

"I HEAR IT!"

TING-A-LING. JINGLE...

BONG! BONG! BONG!"

The fluffy clouds are dinosaurs, and flower petals blowing in the spring winds becomes a flight of goldfish with fluffy fins and then falling orange snowflakes all around.

It's anything but a humdrum, everyday, walk-the-dog day when children let their imagination roam free as the spring winds, in Richard Jackson's joyful I See You See (Atheneum Books, 2021), illustrated magically by artist Patrice Barton. This one challenges youngsters to go outside and see what they can see. Says Kirkus Reviews, "A warm, quiet ode to imagination."