Twenty Questions
by Mac Barnett; illus. by Christian Robinson
Preschool    Candlewick    40 pp.
3/23    9781536215137    $17.99

This conversation-starting picture book presents a series of questions and invites children to supply the answers. The first spread asks viewers to count the number of animals pictured, with Robinson depicting a creature-filled tree and a bear and elephant at its base. The next spread, featuring a tiger partially concealed by jungle leaves, adds an element of delicious mischief: “How many animals can you not see in this one, because they’re hiding from the tiger?” There’s much more mischief: someone has just robbed a bank (“which of these ladies” did it?); bandits bury a treasure (and “what would you do if you found it?”); there’s a mysterious beast in a bathtub (what kind?); and more. Some questions give simple options, one spread showing three sleeping children with Barnett’s text asking which one dreams of peaches. Others are open-ended, making them a good match for creative writing prompts. For instance, a woman stands atop a cliff next to the question: “Who is she waiting for?” Robinson’s textured mixed-media collages provide just enough detail and sometimes pose visual questions that the text doesn’t even touch on. How, for instance, did the snake get in the tennis shoe pictured on the cover? Even the endpapers are a delight, Robinson turning everyday objects (a banana, a mug) into question marks. This is creative, interactive picture-book fun, without question.

From the March/April 2023 issue of The Horn Book Magazine.