Dakota Gets Lost
The Playdate Kids

by Annie Thiel, Ph.D & Tina Fanning
Illustrated by William M. Edwards

Dakota Greenblatt and her mom do lots of fun things together, and they love to go shopping. Today they are going shopping to find a perfect birthday present for Grandma Grace's 80th birthday. They look at many things that Grandma might like, but then Dakota sees a wonderful display of dolls and goes to look at it closer without telling Mom that she is going. She sits behind the table to play with the dolls and loses track of time.

Mom purchases the perfect gift for Grandma, and looks around for Dakota, but she's not there. Dakota discovers that she can't find Mom either...where has Mom gone?

This book helps children see the importance of always staying close to the adult that you are with, and gives a full range of guidelines of what to do if you should become lost. Important points for family discussion include who is safe to talk to if you are lost, the value of memorizing personal information - like names, addresses and phone numbers - and having a plan before you go somewhere. The bright, humorous illustrations add lots of visual interest to this book that should be in every pre-school library, and is a great read aloud for family time. The 10 tips for getting lost and found in the back of the book are wonderful conversation starters.