SMALL PRINT: DEIRDRE BAKER

And So It Goes Written and illustrated by Paloma Valdivia (Groundwood, 32 pages, $17.95, ages 4-8)

This Chilean author/ illustrator’s meditation on the cycle of life makes perfect reading for the end of summer, with its potent mixture of melancholy and excitement. Some things have already left, the narrator tells us -- “the neighbour’s cat, Aunt Margarita, the fish in yesterday’s soup” -- while some are only just arriving, such as new babies and new friends.

Some arrivals are longed for; others come out of the blue. The arrivals and departures of life and death are at the heart of this musing story, but it’s just as much about chance encounters, unexpected moves and the strangeness that we’re here at all.

Valdivia’s rich colours, her Paul Klee-like, geometric figures and intricate patterns, all deepen a sense of the mystery and rightness in the fleeting quality of time and life itself.

Barnaby Never Forgets Written and illustrated by Pierre Collet-Derby Candlewick, 32 pages, $23, ages 3-7)

Here’s a book in which even very young children can pick up on the humour, reading pictures in hilarious contrast to the confident assertions of a sometimes mistaken Barnaby rabbit.

Barnaby has a great memory -- or so he says. He knows when it’s ice cream night, never forgets to feed his grasshoppers, and always remembers to brush his teeth. Even things he forgets turn out to be great surprises -like the furry lollipop he finds in the bottom of the backpack.

So we’re all with him when he sets off for school in the morning … or maybe he doesn’t. Robust humour comes through loud and clear in Collet-Derby’s energetic lines and buoyant text.

And he offers the ultimate fantasy ending -- for those who look forward to going to school and those who don’t.

The Tiny Hero of Ferny Creek Library By Linda Bailey, pictures by Victoria Jamieson (Tundra, 324 pages, $19.99, ages 7-10)

Eddie, his parents, his 53 younger brother and sister bugs, and his Aunt Min have lived for as long as Eddie can remember in the chalkboard in Room 19 of Ferny Creek Elementary School. Living there, he’s had plenty of chance for education, so much so that he’s now become an avid reader.

So it’s no surprise that when his Aunt Min fails to return from one of her regular visits to the school library, Eddie plucks up his courage to go look for her.

As Aunt Min herself says, “Some bugs are meant to be stay-at-home stick-in-the-muds and others are destined for adventure.” His quest takes him through the hazards of expansive corridors, Squishers (so humans tend to be where bugs are concerned) and even a last ditch “Save the Library” campaign. With allusions to classics such as Charlotte’s Web and Stuart Little, this is nevertheless its own story.

Eddie’s inventiveness and Vancouverite Linda Bailey’s stylistic verve make for a funny, adventurous tale -- one that comes with its own recommended reading list and a spirited rallying cry for the preservation of school librarians.