Matt is miserable.
Evocative of childhood friendships and with sublime illustrations that brighten in color as the story progresses, Mattland is an inspiring ode to cooperative play..
And when a rainstorm finally threatens to wash everything away, all the neighborhood kids appear and help stave off the flood.
Piece by piece, she and Matt expand their new world with popsicle-stick bridges and scrap-paper boats.
Soon a little girl shows up with a handful of helpful odds and ends.
Just like that, Mattland is born.
A pile of rocks becomes the Dog Tooth Mountains.
He draws a muddy, winding line and names it Snake River.
But when Matt ventures out, his imagination kicks in.
The subdivision where he now lives is surrounded by nothing but muddy fields of rocks and sticks.
Matt is miserable
