Work and More Work

The icy silvers and grays of Pérez’s artwork give the pages of Little’s first picture book a chilly look, but readers—like Tom, the story’s hero—should forge ahead regardless. Tom’s family has nothing but discouraging words for him when he asks about life in town: “It’s the same everywhere,” his mother snaps. “Work and more work.” But he sets off anyway, and finds that strangers order him about (“You boy.... Help me stack these crates on my barge!”), he doesn’t mind obeying, and his willingness to work can take him anywhere he wants to go. He ventures to sea, reaching China, India, and Ceylon, where he discovers tea, indigo, and cinnamon, respectively. The tacked-on information about the products of these countries seems unnecessary—the heart of the story is Tom’s mastery of his own fate. Pérez’s three-masted ships and visions of far-off lands (the only place he uses flashes of saturated color) provide plenty of visual sustenance. Readers will be surprised to find that some 19th-century children (well, some boys, anyway) may have had more freedom than they do. Ages 6–9. (Mar.)