Review by Booklist Review
This picture book's title-page illustration depicts a mother and child walking a dog that is clearly headed toward a red ball. A page turn reveals a close-up of the ball and this inviting sentence: "If you found a ball in the grass / and it was there for days, / you could take it home." In a straightforward narrative that speaks directly to children, Henkes reflects on the treasures that are hidden in plain sight, just waiting for someone to see their potential. A typical two-page spread features a single sentence on one page, facing an illustration that highlights one of the child's finds, which include a flower growing in a sidewalk crack, an old box left out on garbage day, and a homeless kitten. The text is utterly true to a kid's world in acknowledging limits: it's OK to take the ball home if no one has claimed it for days. Similarly, you shouldn't pick any flower you see, but you can pick those growing from sidewalk cracks. Gradually, Dronzek's richly colorful illustrations reveal how the child is using these treasures to create a comforting sense of warmth and happiness at home. This well-crafted picture book is simple, intriguing, and well attuned to its audience.
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
"If you found a little ball on the grass," begins this second-person work from married collaborators Henkes and Dronzek (Little Houses), "and it was there for days, you could take it home." The red ball sits amid green grass thickly stroked with the illustrator's characteristic visual simplicity. Other overlooked, low-to-the ground objects soon appear, free for the taking: a flower growing from a sidewalk crack, a box on garbage day. A peaceful still life features the new acquisitions; the family dog sleeps contentedly with the red ball, the flower springs from a glass on the table, the box sits saved "for something good." Suddenly, another abandoned entity is encountered. Lost in green leaves, a white kitten opens its pink mouth. "If you found a kitten in the bushes and it was crying and crying and it didn't belong to anyone... and you got permission... you could take it inside to keep." Obstacles overcome, the kitten appears cradled on the shoulder of a pale-skinned child, in whose home everything fits together--the kitten has a box to sleep in, a ball to play with, and a flower to look at. Serendipitously encountered objects present themselves as truly valuable in this compact, thoughtful story about paradise found. Ages 4--8. (May)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2--In a carefully worded script that reads like a sunny morning on slow, Henkes tells what happens when you come across a ball, a flower in the sidewalk, a discarded box, and a kitten. The second-person narration tells you, readers, how to ensure that these objects, having been lost or put aside, can be yours; for example, if you leave the ball where it is for a few days or you ask for a lot of different sorts of permission before taking home the kitten, you may be in the clear. Random choices, these? No, this is a story of simplicity, and what has been found is actually a kitten with a box to sleep in, a ball for it to play with, a flower for it to look at, and a child's arms to hold it. Dronzek's deeply hued, pastel-like illustrations, each a tiny painting that seems to hold its breath in anticipation, culminate steadily till readers find themselves at home with the kitten, perhaps as they always knew they'd be. When a seemingly throwaway piece of text, like an object that is lost, sticks around long enough to turn into a story, that's a picture book. When the illustrations elevate the words the way these do, that's a masterpiece. VERDICT A manual for constructing a contented life, this book makes children look deeper and behave with deliberation. And when they do, Henkes says, they are lucky.--Kimberly Olson Fakih
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Review by Horn Book Review
This adventure of discovery kicks off on the title-page spread with an adult and child walking a dog. The story's second-person voice immediately engages readers: "If you found a little ball on the grass and it was there for days, you could take it home." What about a flower? An empty box? A kitten? Each one ends up at the child's home. Henkes constructs the text conditionally, which will spark many conversations with young children about what is fair for the taking: if the ball was there for multiple days; if the flower sprung forth from a crack in the sidewalk; if the box was on the curb as garbage; and if the kitten was scared and "didn't belong to anyone and it didn't have a mother and you got permission from everyone," you would be "lucky" to take them home. The story taps into the inherent caretaking tendencies of many young children: the kitten is safe in a new home, sleeping in the warm box, playing with the red ball and dog. In nearly every spread, Dronzek's brightly colored illustrations in multicolored borders appear on the recto; the text, perfect for emerging readers, is placed on the verso. Tableaux, dominated by simple square shapes, are reduced to their essentials: ball, flower, box, kitten -- all "happy" in a warm home because the child took the time to notice them. Julie DanielsonMay/June 2024 p.116 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Acclaimed husband-and-wife team Henkes and Dronzek present an ode to noticing the little things. "If you found a little ball on the grass and it was there for days, you could take it home." Using "if" statements like this, similar to those found in beloved books such as If You Give a Mouse a Cookie (1985), Henkes relies on far simpler storytelling. The book zeroes in on four objects: a ball, a flower, a box, and a kitten, in that order. With each acquisition, we learn under what circumstances the "you" of the story could take it home (the kitten in particular requires the most caveats), and in the end, the box, flower, and ball all turn out to be things that serve the kitten very well. The final sentence is a succinct, "Everyone would be happy." And everyone is. Using no more words than you might find in a beginning reader, Henkes once again demonstrates his mastery for boiling a story down to its most essential parts. Dronzek depicts a cast of three (a child with lightly tanned skin, a dog, and the small, white kitten); each of her images is compartmentalized into neat boxes and panels, all painted with bright acrylic colors that pop off the page. Each element is as accessible as it is ripe for speculation. Found objects sometimes yield the simplest pleasures. Consider this book one such example. (Picture book. 3-6) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
