Lost Things

“Sometimes things are lost,” this optimistic picture book’s text opens, accompanied by an image of a brown-skinned child’s dog bolting to chase a squirrel. But as the book progresses, it becomes clear that this is as much a tale of finding things as it is of losing them. In uncluttered scenes that employ a limited palette, visuals lead the reader on a believable series of domino-effect lost-and-found events unleashed by the canine’s disappearance (the dog’s person loses a ribbon that’s plucked up by a bird, which is seen by a light-skinned child who drops their stuffie) until at last the story comes full circle. In clean pencil drawings and cool-toned acrylic gouache, Sookocheff thoughtfully explores the often invisible ways that communities can be linked—even the end pages emphasize interconnection with an aerial view of a cheerful park and its intersecting paths. Ages 3–6. (Sept.)