Adoring parents watch their little girl put on a show. She is clearly the bright spot in their lives. They and the living room appear in shades of gray, but our star is dressed in a hot-pink tutu. The darkened room recedes as she tells and acts out a surreal chain story. "I moved my hand and I found a coconut. / I shook the coconut and I found a lake. / I stirred the lake and I found a fish." As her words pour forth in their original Spanish as well as English, objects first seen in the drab living room now manifest in huge, brilliant hues. Like many young artists, she becomes so immersed in her imaginings that she temporarily loses her place, "What was I saying . . . ?," but recovers. Tale over, her glowing parents hug her. The living room/stage descends into darkness. Or does it? For the transformative power of art lingers, and the little toy unicorn, awakened in rainbow colors, seems primed for an offstage adventure. A dreamy paean to creative expression.

PreS-Gr 1 Luján and Sadat have choreographed a playful ballet starring an inventive preschooler. The dance opens in the child's living room; her smiling parents constitute the audience. Against dramatic black backgrounds and gray, patterned furnishings, the child's magenta tutu and slippers command attention. Eyes closed, she begins the bilingual narration, one sentence in English and Spanish per spread: "Moví la mano y encontré un coco./I moved my hand and found a coconut." As she glides, swirls, and slips through the colored pencil, ink, crayon and digitally designed scenes, the furniture and household objects morph into large scale, colorful elements in her imaginary world. A translucent orange fish (whose face is the moon) spills over two spreads. The girl rides the moon, landing in a yellow landscape, where she reaches and finds a rainbow. Select objects returning to view display a multicolored exterior within the still monochromaticand now messierhome; the the dancer and her guardians are subtly transformed, each sporting rosy cheeks, as does the fish in its bowl. The wordless spreads that follow feature one of the toysa newly striped unicorntaking its place on the circular carpet. Luján's spare, suggestive text leaves ample room for Sadat to create a magical dream world. The girl's giddy logic rings true; the marvelous use of color and expert pacing propel the dance. Sure to inspire fresh flights of fancy! Wendy Lukehart, District of Columbia Public Library

A young girl moves her hand and enters a surreal fantasy world that is subtly composed of items in her living room. Sadat's richly textured and brightly colored illustrations (in pencil, crayon, and digital techniques) atop ink-black backgrounds are visually compelling, but unfortunately the spare poem is not as fluid in English as it is in Spanish.