Higher! Higher! by Leslie Patricelli

Higher! Higher!
By Leslie Patricelli
Illus. by author
Candlewick Press (32 pages)
9780763632410
http://www.lesliepatricelli.com/
Board book
Ages 2-5

We go on an adventure as a dreamy little toddler girl is pushed on a swing to the outer limits of her imagination. Throughout the story, she exclaims "higher! higher!" and as she does so she continues to explore and reaches a new height with every fatherly push. From the playground, past the a tall giraffe at the zoo, above buildings in the city, past mountains, above clouds to fly with airplanes, to a vantage where she eventually looks down at Earth where she meets and high-fives an alien who is not too different as it is also being pushed on a swing. The text only uses six different words but the story effectively illustrates important and the sometimes very difficult to explain relationships of proximity with words and a sense of the physical world that even a toddler can understand... via swing. The idea is effectively brought through the minimalist design and clear illustrations. This book should be passed from swing to swing.