Picture Book of the Day: Float

Float, by Daniel Miyares.  This absolutely masterful wordless book reminded me quite a bit of Ezra Jack Keats (A Letter to Amy, The Snowy Day) and I mean that as a sincere high compliment.  The story begins with a child and father making an origami paper boat.  The boy's bubbly mood defies the grayness of the rainy stormy day as he puts on his bright yellow raincoat and skips outside with his creation.  Miyares' illustrations brilliantly convey the kid's fluctuating moods, giving us switches in perspective and point-of-view, and one beautiful spread (which reminds me of an impressionist painting) providing a breathtaking blurry vision of the boy as it pours.  The drama kicks in when a stream whooshes the boat away, with the distraught boy in hot pursuit.  Miyares does a fantastic job showing the distance between him and the boat, using the book's long rectangular shape to great effect.  When the boat falls into a storm drain, all goes black, and then sadness follows when he discovers that it has become a soaking mess.  Fortunately, his loving pop awaits with a life-affirming hug and a handy hair dryer.  It all leads to a heartwarming ending with rays of sun filling the pages with yellow warmth and the resourceful child creating a new origami paper airplane that soars.  Throw in instructions on how to make a paper boat and paper airplane and you have a winner. A beautiful book, one of the year's very best.