Serendipity and positive thinking come into play as a family searches
for a missing puzzle piece in Bob Graham's enchanting story with a sweet
surprise ending.
"Oh, let's do it!" say Kitty and Katy and Mom when a thousand-piece
jigsaw puzzle mysteriously arrives in the mail. "I have time on my
hands," agrees Dad. Starting in winter with the edges, by autumn they're
almost done, only to discover that one piece is missing. Mom is sure
that it must have accidentally gone out with the trash, so the Kellys
pile into the car to comb through the local dump ("shouldn't take
long"). There they uncover forgotten letters, train tickets, discarded
newspapers, and old photos yellow with age, but finding the missing
piece is starting to seem like wishful thinking. "Let's wish, then,"
says Katy. As in all of Bob Graham's work, the beauty here is in the
details, with visual perspectives that offer a bird's-eye view or take
us underfoot, wordless sequences letting us in on a secret. Is it sheer
luck--or perhaps the power of hope--that creates an ending to the story?