Wild One

PreS-K—As a young girl plays freely in a park, the text and illustrations highlight her actions and compare them to creatures in the wild. As she hangs from the bars, slides down slides, makes friends, chases a butterfly, or swims in a pool, alternating pages feature a simile with an added image of similar animal behavior on the playground and in the pool. "Wild one, on monkey bars, hanging like a bat." Continuing her play, "Slipping like an eel," "bounding like a puppy," "swimming like a guppy," or "clapping like a seal," she runs happily from one activity to another. The turn of a page allows readers to predict the next animal comparison, and ink-and-watercolor illustrations record her play with busy movement. After "crawling like a snail," the young girl heads tiredly home from an exhausting afternoon, followed by a supper-charged energy boost of bedtime bouncing, snuggles, and end-of-the-day goodnights.