Young penguin Flo is attending her first day at preschool. She sports a new pink bow and carries her fish lunch in a pretty pink bucket. After trying her "hand" at painting, she notices her lunch is nearby but the bucket is gone. Going in search for it, clueless Flo spots a fellow classmate wearing a "hat," standing on a "tower," and playing a "drum," without seeming to realize it's her bucket that is being employed time and again by the imaginative Bob. A minor crisis occurs and Flo springs into action, freeing Bob from a perilous predicament, thus establishing a new friendship. Large simple shapes and uncluttered pastel backgrounds will appeal to very young children. Youngsters will also enjoy spotting the pink pail right in front of Flo's eyes.

PreS On the first day of preschool, Flo, a little penguin, meets a classmate who is fascinated by her pink lunch bucket. While Flo is busy painting, Bob purloins her pail. The spare, deadpan narration follows Flo's ensuing search as she nonchalantly passes by bucket-shaped sand castles and casually notices "there was something different" about Bob's appearance. Ashdown's charming mixed-media illustrations show Bob's humorous transformations of the bucket into a hat, a stepping stool, and a drum. When Flo finds her bucket, she uses it to help Bob out of a playground jam and to forge their friendship. VERDICT Pair this title with Antoinette Portis's Not a Box (HarperCollins, 2007) for an imaginative toddler storytime. Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ontario, Canada