Review by Booklist Review
PreS-Gr. 2. In this wordless mind trip for tots, Lehman develops a satisfying fantasy in a series of panels framed with thick white borders. The effect is of peering through portals, an experience shared by the characters as they independently stumble across enchanted red books that provide them with a videophone-like connection. Though wordless picture books often seem to be the province of fine artists indulging in high-concept braggadocio (as in Istvan Banyai's 1995 Zoom), Lehman's effort ensures child appeal with an unaffected drawing style and a simple, easy-to-follow story line about a friendship forged between a city girl and a faraway island boy. The message about the transporting power of story will moisten the eyes of many adult readers, but children will most appreciate the thought-provoking visuals, in which characters' actions influence the course of their own storybook narratives--likewise affecting the larger red book, cleverly packaged to mimic the shape and color of its fictional counterpart. Ideal for fueling creative-writing exercises. --Jennifer Mattson Copyright 2004 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Lehman's (Moonfall) ink-and-wash panels show snow falling on a drab city. The square angles of the buildings counter the rounded doll-like features of a girl walking along the street; the delicate blues and reds of her clothes temper the grays of the city. The girl spies a red book sticking out of a snowbank. Once at school, she peeps into her treasure. The book's pictures show successively closer views of a tropical paradise. Green islands on a map loom, a single beach comes into focus, and a small black point grows to become a boy. As she watches, the boy finds a red book just like hers. But when he opens his, he sees a panorama of a city, a closer view of some windows and, at last, the girl in her classroom. Now the boy and girl can see each other; they stare in surprise, then smile. After school, the girl buys a bunch of balloons and sets sail for the boy's island. She drops the red book as she ascends; but it turns out she doesn't need the book to reach him. Next, a stranger on a bicycle picks up the girl's book and pedals away, glancing back with suspicion. It's the only moment that disturbs the book's otherwise perfect equilibrium, in which summer mirrors winter, two children join hands across a great distance, and the tropics provide a refuge from civilization. As visually uncluttered as it is conceptually rich, Lehman's red book is a little treasure of its own. Ages 4-8. (Sept.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-Watercolor and gouache compositions in square frames imagine a boy and girl on opposite sides of the world. Each discovers a book. When the girl opens the volume to find the boy looking out toward her and also seeing her image on his page, she finds a way to visit. Gently mind-boggling. (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
(Primary) Opening a small, square red book she's found in a city snow bank (a book that looks very much like the one the reader is holding), a girl zooms in on the map inside to view a boy on a tropical beach -- who finds, in the sand, a duplicate book in which he sees the girl in her classroom. Her book, his book, and the reader's book are all wordless, but the narrative is simple -- or is it? Taking flight with a fistful of balloons, the girl accidentally drops her copy of the book -- which opens, where it lands on a snowy sidewalk, to show the worried boy following her flight in his book and finally welcoming her to his island. Meanwhile, another boy picks up the book left on the sidewalk.... The author's simply drawn art and extensive use of geometrical forms are appropriate to a pleasing puzzle that will challenge young imaginations and intellects. (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A charming wordless tale about a magical red book and two unnamed children. One child (quietly androgynous though called a girl by the flap copy) finds a red book lying in the city snow. She brings it to school and opens it to find a map of a warm island somewhere far away. Through a series of frames, the picture zooms in to show her a child on that island, also finding a red book (buried in the sand) and viewing the first child's snowy city. Now his pictures zoom in and he finds her looking at him in the book and then out through the classroom window. They can see each other! After school, a purchase of many balloons carries the city child off to the island to meet her new friend who sees that she's left the city and then, there she is--as seen in her book lying on the city sidewalk where she's dropped it. As it closes, a new city child, who will presumably have an adventure too, picks it up. Simple, nicely drawn, and a friendly toast to the imagination. (Picture book. 3-5) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
