David Jumps In

K-Gr 2–In a story about finding one’s place, Woo presents David, who enters a new school. He wanders the playground, unnoticed, observing children in the schoolyard at their play. “But bundled deep in his pocket:/A string of rubber bands/Knotted and ready/For a game of elastic skip.” After much contemplation, David senses a pause in the action. He finds a way to intervene, introduces himself, and invites children to try his game. Woo tells this quiet story in short, lyrical stanzas, with thoughtful descriptions interspersed, as David notices his schoolmates engaging in a variety of activities such as “blowing dandelions into a galaxy of stars.” Maurey’s (The Specific Ocean) digital illustrations convey these moments of play in a way that feels both old-fashioned and modern. Accompanied by a sans serif font and a contemporary palette, the soft-edged illustrations seem fresh. David is light-skinned with black hair and a cowlick, and the students are diverse in race and ability. An author’s note provides a brief description of the game “elastic skip.”