Everything Has a Place

From School Library Journal PreSchool-- A perfect book for toddlers, Everything Has a Place presents the simple concept of the title in a brief text accompanied by two-page borderless illustrations that are the true focus of the book. Tafuri's familiar graphic style, rendered in clear watercolors, shows a very young child in settings outside and inside the house. Each composition is spare of detail, yet the artist's knack of highlighting a certain object with bright color forces the eyes toward the important element in each painting. The text is printed in large, rounded type in a color harmonizing with the featured object (or a part of it). Pictured in the child's room are familiar, cozy items--a Peter Rabbit plate, a bunny stepstool, a wicker chair, a braided rug, and a copy of Tafuri's own Across the Stream (Greenwillow, 1982). A natural for story time or laptime, this reassuring picture book is destined to become a classic. --Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OHCopyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc. From Kirkus Reviews Tafuri's illustrations for 11 phrases--``a dish in a cupboard,'' ``a cat in a chair,'' ``a baby on a lap,'' etc.- -command attention with their dynamic compositions and jewel- bright colors, but the title's premise seems more like a point of departure for discussion than a statement of where these things belong. ``A cow in a barn'' is eating hay, though there's green grass outside; ``a flower in a garden'' is depicted as a single daffodil in a field. Young children may enjoy pointing out that, though one crayon is ``in a box,'' another is in use; and while some books are being read, others are ``on a shelf.'' The concept isn't developed with much logic, but Tafuri's graphic style has its usual appeal; the book might find good interactive use as toddlers explore where else these things might appropriately be. (Picture book. 0-4) --