Tinyville Town Gets to Work!

Biggs kicks off the Tinyville Town series, focusing on hard-working, civic-minded folks, from the police officer to the trash collectors, who share their expertise to make a city work. This first entry introduces the setting and cast through a problem that needs solving: a traffic jam (“The baker can’t open his bakery. And the bus driver can’t get to the bus stop”). Biggs breaks the trouble down with admirable clarity, providing a backstory (“The old bridge was built when Tinyville Town was much smaller,” says the town engineer) and showing how a design must reflect a variety of needs (the city planner wants a bridge that can anticipate future growth, and the major wants a structure that’s “beautiful to look at”). For construction fans, there are three detailed spreads devoted to the bridge’s creation. The visuals are more stylized than in Biggs’s Everything Goes series—while Tinyville Town is diverse, everyone has the same toylike body shape—but the mood is similarly exuberant and attentive to detail. And the can-do spirit is off the charts. Two Tinyville Town board books are available simultaneously. Ages 3–5. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (Sept.)