Percy's museum

Percy's old house in the city was perfect--there was always lots going on. His new home in the country, though, seems pretty boring. Or at least it does until Percy starts noticing things: busy bees, ants, birds, and caterpillars; tall trees, swishing fish, nighttime critters, and all sorts of new tastes, sounds, and experiences. Percy starts documenting his discoveries, making drawings and gathering specimens, and sets up his collection in a small, Percy-sized shed out in the backyard. He makes a sign, "Percy's Museum," and ties it to his mailbox. The final spread shows Percy's backyard stuffed with kids happily enjoying the museum. The bright illustrations fill the pages and add lots of details, making it easy for readers to share Percy's explorations. It's nice to see Percy, a young boy with brown skin, adapt so nicely to his new surroundings and come to appreciate the small miracles of nature. Percy learns something else, too: "You can be alone without being lonely." This is a simple, sweet story perfect for storytime.

Percy adjusts to his new home by opening himself to nature. The first of the book's whimsical, exclusively double-paged spreads opens with the text "Percy's old house was perfect. There was always something to do, and always someone to do it with." Percy's former home is an immaculately clean city, portrayed with candy-confection colors and populated by a diverse group of active, happy citizens. Aided by Percy's image on the cover, readers can spot Percy, a school-age boy with brown skin and a thatch of straight brown hair, upstairs with a friend, inside one of the buildings. Soon it is revealed that Percy's new home has a large, sprawling yard with a good-sized playhouse toward the back. There are meadows and mountains. A light-skinned girl and her dog occasionally appear in the distance. It takes a short amount of time for Percy and his cat to start exploring the surroundings and to start collecting and recording. The text continues with short, generalized statements about new concepts Percy learns as he continues his investigations. What he finds and draws becomes, in the backyard playhouse, the titular museum. A gentle sweetness pervades the book, which comes full circle in the concluding spread. The art and text--and the lack of adult interventions--offer relief and empowerment to children facing a new environment and a calming, quiet read to those who are not. (This book was reviewed digitally with 9.4-by-17-inch double-page spreads viewed at 54.8% of actual size.) Encouraging and kind. (Picture book. 3-6) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.