A Door Is to Open

In a whimsical picture book study that’s positioned as an homage to Ruth Krauss’s A Hole Is to Dig and Remy Charlip’s essay “A Page Is a Door,” prior collaborators Maclear and Morstad (It Began with a Page) embrace doors as portals to play and possibility. Concise narration establishes doors’ varied forms and functions, while Charlip- and Sendak-tinged art buoyantly conveys the discovery and sociability that frequently begin at a threshold. In one scene, a child raps at a door, a bouquet behind their back (“A door is to knock on”); in another, a figure races around a pink spinning variety (“A revolving door is for going around/ and around/ and around”). As prose builds empathically (“Some doors may give you a nervous, fizzy feeling”), the focus shifts to portals offering access points to alternative perspectives, with dainty drawings presenting animalian dwellings, a shipwreck, and an inviting fairy home. Employing a mix of pencil, marker, and watercolor techniques across alternating b&w and full-color art, tidy drawings depict figures of varied skin tones and abilities alongside entrances of all kinds. As the storytelling shifts to the personal (“Someday you might have the choice of several doors to enter”), musing lines encourage readers to let curiosity propel them. In dialogue with some children’s literature greats, the creators meaningfully highlight doors as metaphors for openness. Ages 3–7. Author’s agent: Jackie Kaiser, Westwood Creative Artists. Illustrator’s agent: Emily van Beek, Folio Jr./Folio Literary. (May)