Jigsaw

A thousand-piece jigsaw turns up in the post one day, and the Kelly family, Mom, Dad, Kitty and Katy, decides to put it together. They begin with the border in winter and keep working until autumn, when only one piece is still missing. Mom is sure it was tossed out with the rubbish, so the whole family drives to the local dump to search. Among the heaps they find lost letters, rail tickets, discarded newspapers and old photographs gone yellow, yet the missing piece begins to look like little more than a hopeful wish.

Bob Graham, the Australian author and illustrator, builds the book around small details. Some pages look down from above, others sit at ground level, and a few sequences have no words at all, letting readers in on something hidden in the pictures.

Chance and an upbeat outlook drive the search, and the story leaves readers to decide whether the ending owes more to luck or to hope. It closes with a pleasing surprise.