THE LONG ISLAND by Drew Beckmeyer.  San Francisco, CA:  Chronicle Books.  56p.  ISBN 978-145215485-5 hc. $17.99     Gr. 1-4    E PIC

When was the last time you read a picture book illustrated in  crayon?  People are depicted as silhouettes.  No faces.  No hair.  No clothes.  The pictures are bold, but simple, effectively telling the story in combination with the sparse, but grammatically correct, text.  The book's formatting is beautiful and unique.  Beckmeyer creates a story of exploration and adventure.  The inhabitants of a small island find a way to explore the hard-to-reach wilderness on other side.  They make it more accessible and then people come to settle the region.  However, an explorer can't stop seeking the unknown.  Near the end of the story, a single explorer uses a motor boat to do what a whole boat of paddlers did at the beginning of the story.  This story rings true when you look back at centuries of land exploration which led to space exploration, and ocean exploration, as technology improved.  There's a lot to talk about after reading this book!
Lynette Suckow, Superiorland Preview Center, Marquette, MI