A Cozy Summer Day

In a quaintly rendered picture book from Wheeler, the animal denizens of Acorn Village fill a summer day with work and play. As opening lines beckon (“Put on your T-shirts, shorts,/ sandals, and caps for a/ Cozy Summer Day”), an ensemble cast of anthropomorphized critters eagerly join in—some tending a garden or picking ripe berries, others painting plein air or building a large city of sand. Idiosyncratic capitalization highlights group activities including a “Super Summer Picnic” with ample lemonade and a “Slow Summer Float” at the Otters’ swimming hole, and an alternate font spotlights sensory experiences (“napping in a leafy nook”). Yellow tones brighten animation-style renderings of a Calico Critters–like community, with beavers, hares, owls, and more buzzing about mushroom and treehouse abodes. After a “crackling campfire,” the crew bed down beneath the stars, ready to dream about another halcyon day. Amid a welcoming, fully realized world, it’s an appealing roundup of sunny day pastimes. Ages 2–5. (May)