Can You See What I See? Dream Machine: Picture Puzzles to Search and Solve

Inspired by the artistic imaginings of children, Walter Wick has made a career of setting up and photographing elaborate miniature sets crammed with gazillions of gewgaws--yo-yos, buttons, plastic sheep, hot dog buns, playing cards, spoons, funnels, domino tiles, teapot spouts--in the I Spy series (with Jean Marzollo) and his bestselling Can You See What I See? Picture Puzzles to Search and Solve. Dream Machine continues this tradition with a space-age twist. The first two-page spread, "Bedtime," is a grownup-eyed view of a child’s darkened bedroom, with the accompanying text: "Can you see/ what I see?/ Five cards, a bike,/ three soccer balls,/ a spotted owl,/ striped overalls,/ an elephant,/ a dog asleep,/ a dinosaur tail,/ seven white sheep,/ a yo-yo, a boat,/ a can, a jar,/ a lightning bolt/ on a little red car!" In subsequent spreads the camera lens zooms in to focus on the tiny worlds within worlds under the child's chair. Clutter gives way to order as the reader is asked to join Wick in his nighttime dreamscape. The possibilities are endless for sharp-eyed children who choose to go beyond the "search and solve" puzzles. Hours of fun await! (Ages 4 to 8) --Emilie Coulter