Here's a book from a Dutch team that should resonate with both preschoolers and the adults who end up lugging them home: a savvy mom manages to evade the title request—and still make her son feel like the luckiest kid in the world. After a wonderful day in the park, Thomas decides he's too pooped to make the return trip on his own two feet. "Well," says Mommy, assuming a frog-like posture, "if you're too tired to walk, maybe we should try... jumping
!" When the charm of that option wears off, and home is still not in sight, she suggests swimming down the street, flying and lastly a sprint. "And they run and laugh all the way down the street, until, finally, they are home." Van Rossum's crisp, engaging text is a model of economy, while van Harmelen's fluid ink lines give Mommy (who wears a mod, navel-baring ensemble) a wacky balletic grace; her wiry limbs and expressive face (especially her glee after hitting on yet another idea to distract Thomas) augment the upbeat watercolors' visual punch lines. To underscore the infectious fun of Mommy's ingenuity, van Harmelen also adds a growing panoply of fanciful hangers-on—a blue kangaroo, a snorkel-outfitted boy carting a fish tank on his aquatic-themed bicycle—who seem to represent toys come alive. It all adds up to a lovely confection, and one that may just inspire some similarly creative walks home. Ages 2-4. (Mar.)
