Gr 2-4 Schaible's simple text spans billions of years in a few dozen pages. The first half of the book prompts readers to consider the past, with the text on the verso stating what has already transpired. The second half of the book takes on the future and enlists readers directly through text on the recto. It asks them to consider where they think they will be tomorrow, next year, or even in a decade. Like a film that experiments with different aspect ratios, the illustrations' sizes subtly contribute to the book's mood. Billions of years in the past, the renderings are full-bleed spreads, wide and seemingly limitless. With each flip of the page, readers get closer to the present day. The images shrink. The white space around them grows. By the time the book arrives at "now," the image is mere fraction of previous ones, conveying the tight immediacy of a single moment. Then there is a turning point. As the narrative points to the future, the images get gradually larger, and the white space smaller. The final image, like the first, spans to the very edge of the page, eliminating any margins. As the pictures grow, the possibilities seem infinite. VERDICT An essential purchase, this is a must-read to share with children as they begin to ponder the infinite.Chance Lee Joyner, Haverhill P.L., MA

This Swedish import asks children to ponder time on a mammoth and ever shifting scale.The book's first half, with sweeping, panoramic vistas, peers backward, beginning with "billions of years ago" when the planet was formed. In the next spread, readers see dinosaurs millions of years back, then humans migrating "hundreds of thousands of years ago." The book continues shifting forward in huge increments of time until it arrives at "a year ago," when it starts shifting forward by a month, a week, a day, an hour, and a minute-zooming in on a particular house and family-until it reaches the present moment, in which readers see a shooting star and text that reads "Now! Make a wish!" With each page turn, the border of clean white space around the illustrations grows in size, thereby shrinking the view. The book's second half looks back out and direct questions at readers in a second-person voice: "Where will you be in the afternoon?" The borders shrink and the illustrations increase in size as readers are asked to ponder their futures, from tomorrow to next month to next year and so on. Here, questions asked of readers are inviting and as grand in scale as the vistas they're paired with: "What will you look back on when you're old?" and "What do you wish for the future?" Humans are often depicted at a distance from readers but appear to represent a mixture of races. (This book was reviewed digitally.)Ambitious and thought-provoking. (Picture book. 5-10)