Your Farm ★ Your Forest ★ Your Island
by Jon Klassen; illus. by the author
Preschool    Candlewick    24 pp.
2/25    9781536230826    $8.99
e-book ed.  9781536242416    $8.99
Preschool    Candlewick    24 pp.
2/25    9781536230833    $8.99
e-book ed.  9781536242430    $8.99
Preschool    Candlewick    24 pp.
2/25    9781536230819    $8.99
e-book ed.  9781536242454    $8.99

“This is your sun. It is coming up for you.” Thus begins each of three original board books, accompanied by an image of the sun peeking up over an implied horizon line. Subsequent spreads introduce, one by one, other characteristic features you’d find on a Farm (barn, horse), in a Forest (cabin, stream), or on an Island (palm tree, boat) and add them to the scenes. “These are your plants. They can go on the ground.” The basic-shaped objects accumulate on mainly white backgrounds; once the settings are fully created, the day concludes, and each book ends with the line: “Now you can sleep too and think about what you will do there tomorrow.” A simple premise, but with subtle depth cleverly provided by Klassen. His minimalist style is on full display, from the brief, straightforward texts (“Here is your truck. It is a good truck. It can go in the barn too”) to the sparsely populated pages. Of course, Klassen also infuses life and character into each object in the ink and graphite illustrations by giving them expressive eyes, which close at night when the farm, forest, and island go to sleep. Additional imaginative elements include a ghost in Forest and a magical fire that never goes out in Island. The whole process mimics and encourages a toddler’s drawing activity, adding things to negative space to create art that tells a child-friendly story. In short, Klassen has crafted three unassuming master classes in picture-book making for the youngest listeners/viewers.

From the ">January/February 2025 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.