Christina Katerina and the Box | A Best Picture Book Review

"Active imagination" does not even begin to describe Christina Katerina. This is a child who lives fully in the moment, revelling in whatever is taking place around her. When her mother gets a new refrigerator, Christina Katerina commandeers the giant cardboard refrigerator box, parking it on the front lawn.

Her father helps her convert it into a clubhouse, and it's a great clubhouse. It's even better when her friend Fats comes back from vacation and helps her run the club. Until Fats gets in a snit and sits on the box, collapsing it. Her mother's relief at being able to throw the box away now is premature, however, as Christina Katerina can instantly see that, of course, it's not a clubhouse, it's a racecar! When the racecar is wrecked, Christina Katerina instantly converts it to another use, and another, and another, until it is down to being a flat dance floor. When Fats tries to clean it with the hose and it finally disintegrates completely, her mother is finally able to clean the whole thing away, to her very short-lived satisfaction. You see, Fats's mother just got some new appliances, and Christina Katerina told Fats to bring the cardboard washer and dryer boxes on over ... her mom won't mind a bit!