Hector the Collector

PreS-K—Hector loves acorns, and he keeps a huge assortment of them in his desk at school. When his classmates discover his stash, they make fun of him. Hector's kindly teacher invites him to explain why he collects them, and he expounds on his passion, showing off all the different kinds of acorns he has accumulated: "They're all different, and they're all the same, and they're all beautiful." Many of the other students have treasured items of their own—pennies, stuffed animals, baseball cards—and from there the narrative segues into a look at larger collections, such as the Museum of Natural History. Graegin's illustrations depict a group of anthropomorphic animals (Hector is a dog, his teacher is a giraffe, and his classmates include a pig, a skunk, a bear, and a fox), all round heads and soft lines. With references to the book's New York City setting (yellow taxi cabs, the New York Public Library), the visuals give the tale a gentle feel that matches the simple, matter-of-fact text. Curator and art historian Beeny ends with a brief author's note on the wide variety of collections out there (the Louvre, the Frick, the New York Transit Museum).