For over twenty years, M. B. Goffstein has demonstrated in her books for children and young adults that both good things and big issues can come in small packages. Of her twenty-six published books to date, twenty-three are picture books with illustrations that are often no bigger than 2 3/4 by 3 1/4 inches, and some of the texts which accompany the illustrations tell their respective stories in as few as seven or eight sentences.

This brevity results from Goffstein's focus on essential elements--choosing the right words and drawing the right lines to tell her stories about friendship, family, the rituals of holidays and every day, natural history, and the importance of finding and following one's vocation. In a number of her latest books, Goffstein approaches the subject of vocation by exploring what it means to be an artist. The tiny figures she presents write or paint, but most of all they...