Review by New York Times Review
THE field of children's literature blooms annually with books about bunnies, bears and the like. Yet children sometimes prefer to dote on creatures they very well know will give parents the creeps, and conspiratorial children's authors are happy to indulge this urge. However, the siren call of cuteness always remains, and some of this year's crop of uncuddly-animal books play it one way, some the other. Apart from its title, "My Snake Blake" isn't creepy at all. Blake the snake is a little boy's perfect friend right out of the birthday-present box. He calms the boy's alarmed mother, spelling out reassuring cursive words with his body, and shows himself to be of invaluable service: Blake knows all the boy's homework answers; helps with batting practice; and even walks the dog, serving as both walker and leash. It's a very boy-centric story; snake-loving girls - seeing the contrast between reluctant mother and eager father, son and male snake - might wish for a snake book of their own. The illustrator, Serge Bloch, has taken Randy Siegel's silly, slim text and served it up as a dish straight out of 1960. (The text itself seems to have been inspired by Tomi Ungerer's 1958 snake book, "Crictor") He draws in the loose, bamboo-pen scribble that thrived in those days. Channeling artists like Saul Steinberg, Robert C. Osborn and Jules Feiffer, he gets the wry, relaxed humor just right His boy is adorable, as is his snake. Not only the drawing here is '60s style, but also the printing. There was, in the history of illustration, a thing called color pre-separation, in which artists drew a separate version of every drawing for each color of ink to be printed. Taking a colored original and photographically splitting it into the three primary colors and black was an expensive prospect for children's publishers. This splitting was therefore done manually, by the illustrator, and usually into fewer than four colors, which meant less labor for the artist and a lower cost for printing. Fewer colors made for a limited palette, but the hues could be cleaner and purer, or so illustrators consoled themselves. Once scanners made full-color printing less expensive, pre-separation disappeared. However, "My Snake Blake" is a three-color job, printed in red, green and black ink on uncoated stock, just as in the old days; though if you know what you're looking at, you can tell the pre-separated colors were prepared on a computer. Also in a '60s vein, David Covell's "Rat and Roach, Friends to the End" swings to the subversive side of the scale. Its tone is set early on with a graphic display of rat flatulence surely unprecedented in picture book history. But things get tamer; at base, this story of troubled amity between vermin is a conventional Felix-and-Oscar conflict between clean Roach and slovenly Rat. And once their friendship is threatened, both friends work to make it better. Covell's engaging text addresses the reader directly, wondering openly what will happen next; and it works in able counterpoint to the bold, simple illustrations. The humor ranges from silly, gross food jokes for kids to a gag for graphic designers. The book is hipsterish (the story takes place under Avenue A), and hence the art is '60s in style. Retro though they are, the flat, strong shapes and funny-looking scribbles must seem as new to children as they did to everyone back when Modern was new. Covell, who is likewise new to illustrating children's books, draws his Rat and Roach halfway between adorable and creepy, in brushy computer ink. They have their signature colors: pink for Roach (slippers, air freshener, haute cuisine) and chartreuse for Rat (sewer water, slobbery saliva), which together with gray and brown make up the book's color scheme. The colors are few because Covell's style also imitates the limited palette of pre-separated art. His pictures are simple but not sweet; to me, in fact, they're aesthetically disturbing. I like "Rat and Roach, Friends to the End" exactly because I find it unusually ugly - and wonderfully appropriately so. "Squid and Octopus, Friends for Always" is far prettier, yet again prepared with a very limited but lovely palette; this time because the art is silk-screened. Tao Nyeu's style isn't remotely hip or hipster. Gentle and childlike, it recalls folk art (also a '60s thing, of course) and decorative traditions from both Asia and the West. Where Nyeu's imagery is big and bold, the rewards are great: a magnificent whale spreads its glorious indigo across two orange pages. A submarine, with a die-cut flap you can lift to see the goingson inside, is delightfully clever and fun. Other pages, filled with complicated incidental activity, feel too scattered and wrong, however, for its four simple, and young-feeling stories. Three of these will be engaging for the very young; one, "The Hat" is amusing and substantive enough to satisfy both child and parent. Here Octopus assumes that a boot drifted down from above is a hat. He wears it proudly until his friends convince him that it is a flowerpot then a soup bowl, then a doorstop. "The Hat" is a story about doubting yourself, whose absurd ending (Squid has found the other boot and is wearing it as a hat) feels exactly right. Nyeu's first two picture books, which featured both bears and bunnies, garnered significant awards. Though she has dipped her toe in the anti-cuddlies with mixed results, she is nonetheless an artist to keep an eye on. I'm sure Randy Siegel's next book will be at least as much of a snake charmer as this one. And I'm a little afraid of what might be forthcoming from David Covell - but it should be interesting. Paul O. Zelinsky is the author and illustrator of many books for children, including the Caldecott medal winner "Rapunzel" Most recently, he illustrated "Z Is for Moose," by Kelly Bingham.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [July 15, 2012]
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Nyeu's (Wonder Bear, 2008, and Bunny Days, 2010) latest picture-book treasure is structured along the lines of Mo Willems' Hooray for Amanda & Her Alligator! (2011) as a series of quick, comical pieces introducing two besties and their warm and supportive friendship. The book opens with a drop of contentiousness in a story that looks to answer the age-old question of what eight-tentacled sea creatures wear to keep their extremities warm. Squid says socks; Octopus insists mittens. Wise Old Turtle suggests scarves and earmuffs, so you can see what his advice is worth. In the end, sharing saves the day in a splendid exchange of socks and mittens. Elsewhere, Octopus lifts Squid's spirits when he is feeling a bit ordinary, the two cavort about with cowboy-boot hats, and finally they try to puzzle out what they'll find inside a fortune cookie. The stories are pleasant and affirming, all right, but the biggest waves spring from Nyeu's smooth-lined, inviting artwork. She has got a spectacular grasp of coloring, with muted, matching tones in paisley and polka-dot patterns that are uniformly delicious on the eyes. And the compositions sway with teeming wreaths of deep-sea flora and fauna here and hilariously anachronistic details there (how does one eat soup underwater, anyway?). This positive, upbeat, and comforting bundle is sure to bring smiles. A good choice for goofy, interactive read-alouds.--Chipman, Ian Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Sweet in Wonder Bear and naughty in Bunny Days, Nyeu is back to sweet with this look at an ideal friendship between two genial cephalopods. In four stories, Squid and Octopus show readers that there's no quarrel that a little sharing can't solve (even when it's about a weighty matter like the superiority of mittens vs. socks for keeping one's tentacles warm); that chums always offer support, even in the face of a daunting dream or a scary fortune cookie fortune; and that friends let friends wear cowboy boots on their heads, even when everyone else says it's a fashion "don't." Nyeu's undersea world is filled with an amazing array of trippy-looking plant life and a large secondary cast of aquatic creatures who offer asides and non sequiturs throughout. The main protagonists are perhaps a touch too mild mannered, and their expressions have a fairly limited emotional range, but the lilting, low-key text has a subtle narrative drive, and readers may find themselves turning the pages as if carried along by a gentle but unstoppable wave. Ages 3-5. Agent: Holly McGhee, Pippin Properties. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-K-The chatty plots in these four stories are inventive, quirky, gentle, and sweet. In one, Octopus finds a cowboy boot. Is it a hat? A flower pot? A doorstop? Everyone has an opinion, and readers will enjoy knowing a little more than the sea creatures do about this subject. In another story, Squid has had a fabulous dream that waking life can't compete with-or so he thinks. Every page is generously filled with detailed ink and silkscreen art containing visual jokes, commentary by other sea creatures, and character-enhancing details. Octopus, for example, is usually painting, sculpting, or drawing-Lobster is his favorite model-and he wears berets and neckerchiefs. Squid, a champion knitter, sports a huge, pompom-topped wool hat. Readers who scrutinize the pages will be rewarded with images such as a pig watering a cupcake plant or a photo of Octopus riding a tandem bike with Wonder Bear. Best for small groups, Squid and Octopus can be enjoyed one story at a time by very young listeners or in one big gulp by those with a longer attention span. They'll all want to linger over the pictures.-Susan Weitz, formerly at Spencer-Van Etten School District, Spencer, NY (c) Copyright 2012. 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
Four entertaining short stories introduce readers to Squid and Octopus--two friends who face fashion dilemmas, dream of being extraordinary, and together let their imaginations run wild. Cameos by creatures from Nyeu's previous books, some adorable new ocean critters, and the cool underwater color palette of the silkscreened pages--filled with detail (and humorous asides)--will grab young readers' attention. (c) Copyright 2012. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
Nyeu's latest contains four stories about the relationship between two eccentric sea creatures. When Squid knits socks for his multiple limbs and Octopus tells him they wear mittens, not socks, the buddies argue. Next, Squid is sad to have lost the X-ray vision bestowed while dreaming--and his status as "Super Squid." His friend convinces him that he remains special. Octopus then mistakes a cowboy boot for a hat; finally, the duo reads a fortune about everlasting friendship--the most successful story of the lot. While Nyeu's swirling silkscreens, executed in a controlled palette of blues, greens, oranges and yellows, present flora and fauna in magical, decorative compositions, her verbal narrative falls short. The conflicts and dialogues, for the most part, do not ring true. Why wouldn't Squid know about mittens, if those are what they always wear? When Octopus cheers Squid up after his dream, the conversation sounds more like an unnaturally cheery adult talking to a child than two close friends. The characters' emotional range is limited. Side comments of secondary characters don't add much in the way of humor or interest. Arnold Lobel, James Marshall and Mo Willems each created famous odd couples by pairing verbal restraint with nuanced facial expressions, universal feelings with understated affection. There is something to be learned from these models. Long on design; short on story. (Picture book. 4-6)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
