cover image Welcome to Preschool

Welcome to Preschool

Maria Carluccio. Chronicle, $16.99 (12p) ISBN 978-1-79721-084-1

Prospective preschoolers can jump right into the bright and busy classroom action of this interactive novelty board book, which features a moveable character on each spread that readers can slide along slots cut into the pages. Jaunty rhymes encourage readers to help the protagonists take part in familiar activities in a sunny space brimming with a rainbow of books, toys, and art supplies (“Aren’t you excited/ to make a big mess?/ Making art with our fingers/ is what we like the best”). Carluccio’s digitally rendered collage, marker, and watercolor images of a smiling cast of animals and their rabbit teacher reading, playing, and stretching tall have a scribbly folk-art vibe and serve as a kid-friendly invitation for readers to explore taking their earliest steps toward school. Ages 2–4. (July)