Windblown

Seven scrap-paper shapes in different colors are introduced, one by one, on consecutive spreads with plenty of white space. The text addresses the reader: "Where did they come from? Whose are they?" While this book at first seems as minimalist and innovative as Herve Tullet's Press Here (rev. 7/11), a more traditional story line soon emerges as several characters appear, providing a cumulative narration in which each claims ownership of the shapes. First, we see a chicken, whose head and face comprise the seven shapes, who says she found them on the ground. Next comes a fish, who insists the shapes are his because he cut them into the pieces that the chicken found; then a bird asserts he made the paper from leaves, etc. -- working backward in time until the wind claims to have started everything by blowing over a tree. The cumulative steps seem to be teaching something about where paper comes from, but by book's end it's clear that this is just a framing device for an imaginative game. The wind blows all the pieces back into the air and then into a random pile, with the final text once again addressing the reader: "They're yours now too. What will you do?" The jacket flap provides a web address where the shapes can be printed and cut out, truly extending the story into the real world of the reader. lolly robinson