A child writes a message on a piece of birchbark. Various animals interact with the note as it becomes a house, a hat, a basket, and more until finally the wind delivers it to its intended recipient: the child's friend. On each page, tidy gouache illustrations show both the creature that last had the note and a hint of who's next, enabling viewers to make predictions.

PreS-Gr 2-A young child lounging in a flowery meadow writes a note and leaves it for a friend. A variety of animals discover it first and transform it according to their needs. When Turtle comes across the note, he makes a raft out of it; Duck uses it as a dock for her ducklings; Spider crosses the creek on it; and so forth. Eventually the wind blows the note over to its intended recipient, another child. The last page reveals the missive's contentsan invitation to go exploring, something the note's author has been doing all along while waiting for a friend to arrive. Boyd's stylized gouache illustrations are reminiscent of Matisse's cutouts, with their vivid colors and dancing shapes. Sharp-eyed readers will enjoy spotting the animals on the spreads as they make their appearance and cameos throughout the story. Hand-lettered text is a fitting accompaniment to the images both in its simple refrain of "I wrote you a note. Did you find it?" and in making the entire book feel like the note itself. VERDICT A delightful adventure through the great outdoors, best shared one-on-one to pore over the engagingly designed pages.Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY