Summer is coming and Marthe Jocelyn’s new picture book evokes those wonderful long months at the cottage when there’s all the time in the world to do what you want. It seems endless – yet suddenly you’re packing up and heading back to the city and to school. Happily, there are new shoes to soften the blow.

The three cheerful kids in Mayfly could be the family down the block, but look closer. Note the cribbage set, the absence of a DVD player, that little red rowboat instead of a personal watercraft. Where’s the sunblock? The cellphone? That family album has black-and-white snaps! The marshmallow roasts, the sunburns, and the outhouse surely belong to the cottage in the good old days when Grandpa was young. The real story in Mayfly is about time: free time, time passing, times past.

Jocelyn is a children’s writer and former toy designer who splits her time between New York City and Stratford, Ontario. She depicts urban landscapes as well as wild ones, using the distinctive collage technique that won her earlier book, Hannah’s Collections, a place on the Governor General’s Award shortlist. Jocelyn builds her lively, clever illustrations from everyday materials like cloth and paper – even a feather for a chipmunk’s tail. The design is attractively varied, including two-page spreads, silhouettes, and familiar objects handily labelled for beginning readers. The plot is slight and may not hold the interest of older children wanting an exciting story. But for younger ones, especially those who’ve been to a cottage, the simple text appeals strongly to the senses, and there’s a lot here to look at and talk about.