This Beautiful Day

Outside, a summer storm rages, with black clouds and rain streaming down the windows. Inside, no problem! For three kids and a dog there are dress-up opportunities, dance music on the radio, and the creative possibilities of an empty cardboard box. When the sky brightens just slightly, the children burst out the door, equipped with rain boots and umbrellas to make the most of puddles. As neighborhood kids join the impromptu parade, their umbrellas turn magic, lifting everyone into the sky, Mary Poppins-style. The children drift back down to earth to an unfazed mother and a snack of pink Popsicles. Jackson's buoyant, impressionistic text, a bouquet of present participles, bounces along with "skipping and singing," "hiding and seeking," and "teetering-tottering." The kinetic words are perfectly matched to pictures in which protean acrylic skies form a backdrop for sketchlike pencil drawings of children on the move. There's a retro quality to the setting, and indeed the big sister, in her confident pose and dress-up hat and beads, is reminiscent of Really Rosie. But the whole scene is too energetic and immediate to be nostalgic. It's a sweet, joyful celebration of active play in which dark clouds are their own silver lining. sarah ellis