Review by Booklist Review
PreS-Gr. 3. As much a celebration of the five senses as an antiwar message, this bright picture book combines Radunsky's playful gouache double-page scenarios with quotes from grade-schoolers at an international school in Rome. What does Peace look like? Like something beautiful that goes away but will come back, reads the text, which is accompanied by illustrations showing a cat and a dog curled up together in a big basket. Peace sounds like raindrops falling . . . like voices singing. Peace tastes like ice cream, in many flavors. A great last page shows the word for peace in nearly 200 languages, from Abenaki and Afrikaans to Zapotec and Zulu. --Hazel Rochman Copyright 2004 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In this timely exercise, well worth repeating in any home or school, Radunsky (Manneken Pis) interviews elementary students at the Ambrit International School in Rome. Each inviting spread addresses one of the five senses and gives the interviewees' often poetic thoughts on peace; the author/artist treats the children's answers seriously, without making them seem precious or cute. Under a large heading that asks "What does Peace look like?," the respondents imagine "new babies just born yesterday" and "something beautiful that goes away but will come back." One child suggests "a cat and a dog curled up together in a basket," and Radunsky pictures this scene in a full-spread painting; curiously, the yin-and-yang white dog and black cat do not touch or look at one another, but they do appear relaxed. Under the question "What does Peace sound like?," the children answer, "like a silent day... like everyone's heart beating, making one big sound together," and small print on the far right gives their names (from Michael to Bhavana to Finbar) and ages. The final page translates the word "peace" into almost 200 languages, implying the world population's ideals. Radunsky's sensual paintings, with their swooping gestures, smears and rousing saturated colors, complement his questions on perception (some readers might wish for more diversity in skin hues among the people pictured-or more people, period). Kindness emanates from this volume, which proposes a simple but effective experiment for contemplating peace. All ages. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-Radunsky strings together descriptive similes and metaphors to describe the essence of the word "peace." "What does Peace smell like? Like a bouquet of flowers in a happy family's living room-like fresh and new furniture-like pizza with onions and sausage.-" To the side of each question, the author indicates the names of children from the Ambrit International School in Rome who contributed their sentiments to the text. Other spreads attempt to explain how peace looks, sounds, tastes, and feels. Colorful gouache illustrations, primitive in design, supplement the concept. The only unique feature is the extensive list of words for peace in over 150 languages that appears at the end. While the book might be useful for a unit on peacekeeping, there is nothing original here.-Blair Christolon, Prince William Public Library System, Manassas, VA (c) Copyright 2010. 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
Children from the Ambrit International School in Rome describe what peace smells, looks, sounds, tastes, and feels like (e.g., it feels ""like the fur of a baby mouse""). The concept is inspired and timely, and Radunsky's vivacious color art manages to be moving without being maudlin, but, with their myriad and occasionally domineering typefaces, the spreads can be more anxiety-provoking than pacific. (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
Through simple words and pictures, this thought-provoking offering suggests some interesting answers to the titular question. Radunsky opens with children, adults, and one dog saying "peace" in different languages and ends with a listing of 192 of them from around the world. In between, his signature style on double-paged spreads asks how peace smells, looks, sounds, tastes, and feels. The vibrant gouache paintings work well with the text, created by Radunsky and a group of eight- to ten-year-old children from The Ambrit International School in Rome. Peace looks "like a cat and a dog curled up together in a basket," it sounds "like everyone's heart beating, making one big sound together" and it tastes "like your favorite food times two." Perfect for sharing with children of all ages who will want to share their own visions of peace with each other, this is a soothing remedy to headlines of war and terrorism. (Picture book. 4-8) Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
