28 June 2015 LOST. FOUND. by Marsha Diane Arnold and Matthew Cordell, ill. Neal Porter/Roaring Brook, November 2015, 32p., ISBN: 978-1-62672-017-6

“One man gathers what another man spills.”

-- from “Saint Stephen” by Robert Hunter and Jerry Garcia

LOST. FOUND. is a delightful, high-energy, animal-character picture book. The entire text consists of repetition of the two words making up the title: Lost. Found.

LOST. FOUND. features a red wool scarf. On the title page, a sweet bear wearing the scarf  is struggling against winter winds. Unfortunately, the scarf comes loose: Lost.

A series of animals find and then lose possession of the red scarf: There are a pair of raccoons who struggle over it; a beaver who dons it as a fancy head covering; a river otter that swings Tarzan-style on it; a fox who lays it out across treetops to dry in the sun; some mice who then employ it as a trampoline; a pair of pine martens who tie it between trees as a net for playing pine cone volleyball; and some squirrels who chase off the martens and then swing on the net. In a climactic fit of mayhem, all the animals converge on the scarf, seeking to take possession. Except for the bear, who then encounters the other animals amid the threads that used to be his scarf.

What does he do? The bear leads everyone in gathering and knitting the wool back into a scarf that all the animals share while enjoying marshmallows and cocoa.

I really like that LOST. FOUND. will prompt audiences to imagine many creative and wacky things that one can do with a simple scarf. But what I especially appreciate about the story is how it contrasts with our throwaway society. Everyone has a use for this piece of used clothing. Then, when the scarf comes unraveled, it’s fixed instead of being tossed in the trash.

Matthew Cordell does a superb job of bringing to life a whimsical, expressive cast of characters. I’m really glad to have found this one.

Richie Partington, MLIS

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