Someday (review)

The whimsical protagonist in this book of big dreams has one foot planted firmly in the here and now and one in the realm of possibility. Someday she'll be a famous painter, but today she'll help her father paint the shed; someday she'll be a noted paleontologist, but today she'll unearth treasure from the couch cushions. Each someday possibility spins out in richly invented detail, as she imagines lunching at the White House, swimming with dolphins, capturing Olympic gold, and sleeping under an Egyptian sky. The corresponding everyday activities feel as important as the adult possibilities, and the ending scene, wherein she awaits the first flight of two baby owls outside her nighttime window, creates an elegant and magical closure. Winstead's airy paintings touched with collage accentuate both the hope and the humor of the young girl's bravura; the loose strokes that define her agile, slightly bucktoothed figure give her the impression of being finished and in potential at the same time. Viewers with their own high hopes will find their everyday play more inspiring than ever after seeing it through this girl's eyes.