THE GOODBYE WALK
by Joanne Ryder & illustrated by Deborah Haeffele
At summer's end, a middle-sized child—shown in the illustrations as a girl, while the author addresses the reader in the second person—makes a last visit to favorite scenes at the seaside where she's spent the summer. Ryder's poetic text evokes the emotional response to leaving a place of beauty where there have been many wonderful things to discover and experience; Haeffele's vivid, dramatically lit paintings are a fortunate blend of impressionistic vistas and precise realistic detail. This will never take the place of McCloskey's Time of Wonder, but it makes a nice additional purchase. (Picture book. 5-8)