As an immense lover of smart children’s books and of cleverly deployed die-cut ingenuity, I was instantly taken with Flashlight (public library) by Vermont-based illustrator Lizi Boyd — a wordless story about curiosity and wonder, following a little boy who sneaks out of his camp tent at night and, with a flashlight in hand, discovers the whimsical world that lives under the nocturnal veneer.

Beneath the sweet, enchanting illustrations, with a sensibility partway between The Black Book of Colors and Jon Klassen’s art for Lemony Snicket’s The Dark, lies a deeper reminder about the wonderland that unfolds when one is simply willing to look.

Flashlight was preceded by Boyd’s equally delightful Inside Outside.