Multi-talented Marthe Jocelyn, author of several novels including The Invisible Enemy and Earthly Astonishments, has created a charming new book for preschoolers. Jocelyn’s trademark collage illustrations are perfect for this age group: simple and uncluttered in design, yet rich in texture and pattern and embellished with buttons, beads, braids, pasta shapes, and tiny toys.

Plot and text are minimal. Nellie jumps out of bed, decides what to wear, eats breakfast, and gallops through her daily rituals with energy and humour (except for one cranky interlude before naptime.) Along the way she is exposed to important preschool concepts. Lunch, for example, becomes a counting game; Nellie has a picnic of “1 cup of lemonade, 5 cherries, 2 sandwiches, 3 baby carrots, 4 cookies (Is one missing?), and 24 ants!” Other concepts explored are colours, textures, emotions, and opposites (in-out, under-on, dirty-clean).

Preschoolers will identify with Nellie, who is too short to see her whole face in the mirror, who prefers to eat dessert first, and whose favourite supper is “noodles again.” Adults may wonder at the absence of people in Nellie’s day; her only companions are toys, her blanket (which she calls “Blankie”), and the neighbour’s cat, and there’s no mention of a caregiver until Daddy appears at the end. Usually preschoolers’ parents or caregivers are an integral part of their day, especially if a child lacks playmates. A brief glimpse of the caregiver earlier in the book would have provided a reassuring presence without impeding Nellie’s charmingly independent play.