What Makes Kevin Henkes Brilliant

In one set of Henkes picture books, it's assumed that animals and toys have rich inner lives, though they can't speak to humans.

A fine example is "A Good Day," the book that led the Times Book Review to crown Henkes as "a genius." In this one, various woodland animals are bereft. A bird loses her tail feather; a dog becomes tangled in a leash; a squirrel drops his nut.

These are lively characters, and we feel for them in their moments of crisis. Tension builds; a rupture occurs. The ending is a complete, satisfying reversal of the start -- just like the end of Stephen Sondheim's "Gypsy." It looks so very, very easy.

I like Henkes best when he has a "busy" plot -- as in "A Good Day," "Sun, Flower, Lion," "Waiting." Also, it's notable that he seems to work with fewer and fewer words as his career progresses; he is pushing himself to tell a story in the lightest, most streamlined way. He isn't stagnant.

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