Please bring balloons by Lindsay Ward

I just fell in love with this story. A little girl finds a mysterious request on a carousel polar bear and goes on a magical journey to the north pole where she joins a polar bear party! "It had been a perfect adventure." But it's time to go home and to bed and the adventure is over...until she finds another note.

Ward's lovely collage illustrations have a homey but magical feeling. Sometimes the backgrounds are random, like the polar bears made out of scratch white paper with scribbled schedules and note on them, sometimes they blend with the story, like the snowy background of the north pole created out of old maps.

This story reminds me irresistible of Raymond Brigg's The Bear which is one of my favorite movies, even though their artistic style is totally different. This is a bit dreamier than the books I usually use in storytime, but preschool ages will appreciate the magical adventure and it's a perfect story to read before bedtime.

Verdict: Definitely make this an addition to your collection. There aren't a lot of fantasy books that work well for younger children, but this dreamy story is one of them. Recommended.

ISBN: 9780803738782; Published 2013 by Dial Books for Young Readers/Penguin Group; Purchased for the library (and noticed a huge piece ripped out of a page when I read it again to review it, so purchased again for the library)