The Line by Paula Bossio

A little girl in an orange dress comes across a the beginning of a line.  She picks it up and gives it a shake and, just by doing that she seems to make all kinds of shapes - a slide, a hoop, a monkey on a tree branch, monsters, and even a little bear.  But in the end, it is a little boy in a blue shirt drawing the line with a lead pencil.

This is a wordless picture book, designed to get kids to use their imaginations by talking about the illustrations, which are simple line drawings.  The only color is the little girl's dress and the little boy's shirt.  And because the little boy is using a pencil, there is pencil smudge on the pages, which I automatically kept trying to brush off.

The Line was somewhat reminiscent of Harold and the Purple Crayon, but for a younger child.  And like Harold, the line drawing gives a sense of movement as well as conveying emotions - happiness, fear, love, sneakiness.

I think I would have like a little more color in the illustrations and, well, I am sorry to say that it really bothered me that the little girl was being led around by the little boy's line.  I would have preferred she create her own line.   That was the only thing that spoiled this otherwise delightful book for me.

This book is recommended for readers age 3+
This book was an E-ARC received from NetGalley