From across the water, the island looks blue. Rabbit, Dragon, Chicken, and Cat all get up early and set sail in a pair of boats to spend the day on it. And delightfully blue the island turns out to be. On the voyage over there is a bit of rough weather, but nothing these stalwart friends cannot handle. They enjoy a picnic, and swimming, and the hot sun before it's time to sail home. A companionable day--and the author's means of showing it is buoyant simplicity itself. The text has a lilt, the paintings a flash, the pacing a flair, and the company (of four amusingly human animal characters), a charm all its own.