Open Up, Please!

K-Gr 2—One never knows what will happen when one opens a closed door—or a closed box. In this small, almost wordless picture book, readers are presented with six keys and no instructions. On each following page there is a cage with a locked door that readers have the power to open by lifting the flap. Opening the first door, readers find a little blue mouse who says, "THANKS." The next page features another cage, and lifting the flap reveals a pink bunny who says, "THANKS." Readers go on to free an appreciative squirrel, bird, frog, and hedgehog—one animal for each key. Clues in each cage will help children guess who might be inside. The next page turn reveals a solid cardboard box with no indication about what might be inside. Lifting that flap releases a snake who slithers out and on the next page swallows all the other animals whole—their silhouettes each protruding from its long, thin body. "THANKS," it says. Done in soft watercolors, the art has a naive quality that makes the final plot twist all the more startling.