Bayberry Bluff

The steamboat Mermaid carries its passengers to Bayberry Island summer after summer, first as tourists and visitors and then as vacationers and permanent dwellers. Their parasols are replaced by tents; the tents, by canvases over wooden frames; those are eventually dislodged, and courtly new homes are erected. More buildings are added, and a village called Bayberry Bluff is born. This docudrama about a Martha's Vineyard village will be welcomed by young and old. The art, printed from cardboard-cuts (similar to woodcuts), shows the elaborate gingerbread ornamentation of the contented visitors' homes. Each house is distinguished by a pattern on the tiled roof and a particular design of carved flowers and animals. It's a truly enchanted community of lodgers, in stunning, eye-filling scenes by the Caldecott medalist. All ages. (April)