A grand day

"A million kisses!/ Hugs! Hooray!/ Our grand day/ begins this way." Sidewalk chalk art, baking, reading, and dress-up--there's no limit to the fun that can be had with grandparents, suggest Reidy's declarative couplets and Cotterill's distinctive hand-built, three-dimensional sets captured in brightly lit photographs. Featuring multiple families of varying skin tones, the dollhouse-like scenes burst with an animated energy, loosely organized to map the contour of an active day out, from morning greetings to bedtime stories. The theme of connection powers both text and image as depicted in a candid family shot of children, including one using a wheelchair, gleefully roasting marshmallows with their grandparents: "Eyes so bright and smiles aglow./ Laughs like someone else we know./ Family ties so strong and true.// Part of me/ is part of you." While Reidy's chipper rhymes provide a page-turning pace, it's Cotterill's crafty visuals that make this book stand out. Ages 4--8. (July)

Every day is a grand day when family members have fun together. Children and parents and most especially grandparents gather to enjoy one another's company while sharing a wide variety of activities. Brief, simply expressed rhymes capture the excitement the children feel while participating in each adventure. The rhymes appear within brightly hued double-page spreads that enlarge and enhance every aspect of the events. Families are seen enjoying breakfast on the porch, backyard gardening, making art, and visiting the park to play, have picnics, and read. They cook together, play dress-up, dance, discover treasures in the attic, have a family feast, and roast marshmallows around a fire pit. Cotterill's stunning mixed-media, three-dimensional illustrations flesh out the tale and depict every activity and setting in minute detail while conveying the love and joy of the extended families with laughter and loads of hugs and kisses. Family members are diverse in skin tone; one child uses a wheelchair. The phrase grand days has a subtle added meaning, referring to both the fun of the day and the special closeness children feel with their grandparents. "Family ties so strong and true / Part of me / is part of you." Young readers and their grown-ups will appreciate this homage to familial love and will return to it again and again.(This book was reviewed digitally.) A heartfelt, exuberant ode to intergenerational bonding. (Picture book. 3-9) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.