A Black girl walking her dog through the park doesn’t notice her hair ribbon drop from her box braid bun as her dog suddenly chases after a squirrel. The ribbon is quickly picked up by a bird who takes it to her nest. A white toddler watching the bird doesn’t notice that he’s dropped his teddy bear, but a white woman riding by on her bike sees it and takes it to a nearby café, where it waits to be found. Similar scenarios follow: a pencil (not missed at all) drops from the biker’s book bag, and a red ball falls from a brown-skinned girl’s wagon as her mother pulls her through the park. The red ball is found by the girl who started it all and has been looking for her dog since the dog went after the squirrel; she finds him soon after she picks up the ball. Astute readers will notice the missing dog in the background of many of the pictures. Spare text accompanies acrylic gouache and pencil illustrations, guiding the eye to objects lost and found, and a lovely visual resolution shows the squirrel finding an acorn that’s just dropped from a tree. (Ages 3-5)

A charming story about things lost and found. Sometimes things are lost. A hair ribbon. A pencil. A dog on a leash. But when someone loses a thing, another person may find it, sometimes with surprising results. In this thoughtful and deceptively simple story, several things are lost, then each is found — not always by the person who lost it, but always by someone who can use it. A small story with a big life lesson. Kids (and their grownups!) will have a new way to think, and feel, about losing something.