Lost. Found by Marsha Diane Arnold (review)

Abstract

Reviewed by: Lost. Found by Marsha Diane Arnold Deborah Stevenson, Editor Arnold, Marsha Diane Lost. Found; illus. by Matthew Cordell. Porter/Roaring Brook, 2015 32p ISBN 978-1-62672-017-6 $16.99 R* 4-6 yrs In this picture book with only two words of text, a big honey-colored bear plodding through a snowy landscape unwittingly drops his long red scarf (“Lost”). It’s picked up by a pair of raccoons (“Found”), who play tug of war with the item and then get distracted by a snowball fight and run off, leaving the scarf behind (“Lost”). And so it goes, as a beaver, weasel, fox, trio of mice, etc. find the dropped item, play with it, and then move on. When the scarf springs free and flies to the ground in front of all the animals, a frenzy of possessiveness means they each battle to claim the item (“Found”), leading to its complete unraveling (“Lost”). Fortunately, kindly Bear enlists the animals in a reknitting effort, and they create a scarf just right for everybody to share around the campfire circle over marshmallows and cocoa. The limited text makes this a breeze for both reading aloud and novice reading alone, and the endless stream of animals, most of them mischievously finding a way to turn the scarf into a rowdy outdoor game, are gleeful kid proxies. Cordell’s scribbly, rapid lines have a Quentin Blake flair, and they imbue his simple landscapes (a few green watercolor trees and earth-toned animals are enough to make a winter wonderland against which the red scarf stands out brilliantly) with a frantic energy suitable to the tale of overexcited and forgetful critters. This would be a funny complement to “The Mitten” (such as Aylesworth and McClintock’s clever version, BCCB 1/10) or just a lively consolation for winter’s many missing accessories. Copyright © 2015 The Board of Trustees of the University of Illinois