A wordless picture book begins with a black and white dog playing joyfully with a red ball. Daisy can’t even bear to sleep at the opposite end of the couch from her treasure and scrambles her way closer to cuddle it while she rests. A trip to the park offers the opportunity for more exuberant play with her toy, until an interloper intrudes: A brown dog takes her ball and then accidentally pops it. The double-page spread in which Daisy gradually realizes her ball is not going to achieve its full round bloom again is heartbreaking, as is Daisy’s woeful demeanor in its aftermath. But a subsequent trip to the park offers up a surprise: a blue ball, proffered by the brown dog’s owner. All is well. Chris Raschka’s extraordinarily expressive ink, watercolor, and gouache illustrations not only clearly convey the storyline through a mix of full-page and borderless panel illustrations but also exude emotion, giving young children ample opportunities to follow, articulate, and interpret the events unfolding on the pages. (Ages 2–5)