A day starts out badly for four creatures—a bird loses her favorite tail feather, a dog’s leash gets tangled, a fox can’t find his mother, and a squirrel drops her nut. “But then . . . ” Henkes’ swift, finely paced text belabors nothing. Instead, there is a simply stated turn of events. The bird that lost its tail feather discovers it can fly, the fox that lost his mother turns around and finds her, and so on. It turns into a good day for each animal, and for a little girl who finds a lovely yellow feather in her yard. “Mama! What a good day!” Kevin Henkes’ pleasing story seems uncomplicated, but it has sophisticated ideas at its core for those who ponder the turn of events more deeply: frame of mind and point of view. Inviting watercolor and brown-ink illustrations on matte paper, another visual departure for this author/illustrator, complement the story’s buoyant feel. Highly Commended, 2008 Charlotte Zolotow Award (Ages 2–6)

It started out as a bad day for little yellow bird, little white dog, little orange fox, and little brown squirrel. Until . . .

A discovery, and love, and luck and persistence, and a different point of view changed all that. What can turn a bad day into a good day? You decide.