In Plain Sight

Starred review from June 13, 2016
An African-American girl named Sophie shares a brownstone with her parents and her wheelchair-bound grandfather, “who lives by the window.” He’s always there to wave goodbye as she boards the school bus, and he’s waiting to play a special game of hide-and-seek when she returns: Grandpa pretends to have lost an object, and intrepid Sophie locates each one, hidden in plain sight. The everyday items—a paperclip, rubber band, lemon drop—are cleverly but not impossibly hidden in Pinkney’s signature pencil and watercolor illustrations. Readers will delight in scouring Grandpa’s pleasingly detailed bedroom, which brims with books, art, and an ever-present tabby, to find the missing items before Sophie does. But the best part of this collaboration between the longtime editor and the Caldecott Medalist is the playfulness that oozes from Jackson’s well-chosen words and the warmth of Pinkney’s artwork. There’s one thing that’s never missing from this gentle story about a special bond between the generations, and that’s the love Grandpa and Sophie have for each other. Ages 4–7. Illustrator’s agent: Sheldon Fogelman, Sheldon Fogelman Agency.

Readers will tune up their observation skills while spending time with a grandfather and granddaughter who keep life interesting. Sophie, a light-brown-skinned little girl who lives with Mama, Daddy, and Grandpa, has a special relationship with her grandfather. Every day of the week, when Sophie arrives home from school, saying, "Here I am, Grandpa," he pretends to have lost something that he needs Sophie's help to find. There's a paperclip, a favorite paintbrush, a rubber band, and more--all of which are hidden "in plain sight." Jackson and Pinkney's quiet snapshot of one week in the life of a close-knit African-American family shows how significant intergenerational relationships can be for both children and seniors. Grandpa, who uses a wheelchair, looks forward to his daily time with Sophie as much as she awaits hers with him. Pinkney's exquisitely detailed watercolor paintings are a feast for the eye, and the challenge of finding some of the hidden objects will also make readers observe closely. A tabby cat, who seems to have as much personality as the humans, appears on every page and will remind readers familiar with Pinkney's work of the animals in other picture books he has illustrated such as Sam and the Tigers and The Lion and the Mouse, although this feline has no anthropomorphic characteristics. A fabulous family story with something for the young and old alike. COPYRIGHT(1) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

Starred review from September 1, 2016

PreS-Gr 2-Sophie's grandfather lives in her house, and while his mobility is restricted, his tender feelings for his granddaughter know no bounds. He waves her off to school from his second-floor window, and she comes to visit him every afternoon. Their daily routine includes the man asking for the child's help in retrieving an everyday object that has somehow "gone missing." All of the items are in plain sight, if, that is, one knows where to look. Bright-eyed Sophie is always up for the challenge and is thorough and methodical as she searches through Grandpa's room-neat but chock-full of a busy lifetime of acquired books and mementos-to locate the paper clip, rubber band, straw, or paintbrush. Sharp-eyed viewers will glean that this man, now in a wheelchair, was once a soldier and an athlete and reads poetry and paints. The simple text is largely made up of the good-natured conversations that surround the game and reflect the warmth and joy that Sophie and Grandpa find in each other. Pinkney's lush and lovely watercolors are by turns delicate, energetic, and effusive as he captures his engaging African American characters and their homey domicile. VERDICT This appealing story about a dynamic intergenerational relationship is large enough to share with a group, but individual children will want to pore over the art to spot all of the details in plain sight.-Luann Toth, School Library Journal

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