SMALL PRINT: DEIRDRE BAKER

Picture the Sky, Written and illustrated by Barbara Reid, North Winds, 32 pages, $19.99, ages 2-7

Like poetry, the best art takes something ordinary and makes us look at it anew — exactly the effect of this book about looking and seeing. The illustrations move from the vantage point of a spider swinging in the breeze to a family at the top of a ferris wheel; from an expanse of prairie sky to a tiny, way-up glimpse from a city street. In Reid’s characteristic medium of modelling clay, the pictures are suffused with colour and characters, highlighting the quirks and down-to-earth qualities of human (and other) life as well as the sky’s myriad modes, rain and shine. Unusual and delightful.

The Wolf, the Duck and the Mouse, by Mac Barnett, illustrated by Jon Klassen, Candlewick, 40 pages, $22.99, ages 4-8

By contrast, Barnett’s and Klassen’s hilarious new collaboration looks out from a dark, shadowy place — the belly of the beast, literally. When a mouse is swallowed by a wolf, he’s quite surprised to find the wolf’s belly already inhabited by a duck. The two set up a comfortable ménage à deux, cooking up a storm and whooping it up until the wolf complains of a bellyache. But when the wolf is threatened by a hunter, it’s the mouse and duck who save the day. “Wacky” hardly seems adequate to describe this outlandish fable, which is rendered all the more boisterous and fun by Klassen’s illustrations. Despite his subdued palette — earthy browns and pale tans enlivened by touches of orange — they’re vibrant and energetic, with the creatures’ starry, dark eyes gleaming with sly intelligence, their postures exuding personality. Deirdre Baker teaches children’s literature at the University of Toronto.