What’s Sweeter?

This debut by Tate catalogs small-scale, everyday delights—pleasures visualized in scribbly, faux-naïf vignettes of children portrayed with varied skin tones, all set on backgrounds of creamy whites, pinks, and yellows. “What’s sweeter,” the narrator starts, “than the soft spot/ behind a cat’s ear?” A loopy, wandering line shows a child with brown skin giving a gray-and-white cat a scritch in just the right place; the feline leans in, eyes closed in contentment. “What’s sweeter/ than a fire truck/ getting a bath” accompanies a big ladder truck pulled out in front of a fire station, fire fighters scrubbing it all over with big sponges as two children in fire hats look on. Many of the sweet things are nature-themed (“seeing a bluebird/ right outside/ your window”), but others could take place anywhere: “when something/ fits you just right” appears alongside an image of a caretaker with a large shopping cart and a happy child with a diminutive version. Tate’s whimsical musing ends with a twist that brings this beguiling, even sweet, interlude close to the reader. Ages 4–8. (Dec.)