Review by Booklist Review
A pair of shorter flaps between full pages reveals the unfolding narrative surprises in this inventive picture book from the French Boyer. Beginning on a trampoline and bouncing off across a picnic table, through a park, into a zoo, and across a street, a red rubber ball leads an enthusiastic golden dog on a merry, mayhem-filled chase. Everything but the dog and the ball is portrayed in silhouette, with splashes of color and clever delineations of detail giving the shapes clear personalities and reactions, and every new series of images begins with a single command (Catch! Run! Fetch!). Along with the shorter pages revealing different levels of action, this gives a very straightforward story an intriguing visual complexity and will pull young readers eagerly from one page to the next. The dog and the ball, the story's central visual elements, are composed of simple shapes, warmly inviting in their familiarity. A breezy adventure with highly engaging visuals that will make a winning read for young dog lovers.--Karp, Jesse Copyright 2014 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
French artist Boyer's (Woof Meow Tweet-tweet) nearly wordless combination of ice-cream colors, crisp silhouettes, and varied page sizes makes for distinctive visual storytelling. A dog is seen chasing a red rubber ball that lands on a playground trampoline where two silhouetted children are poised mid-bounce. A series of three partial pages, graduated from narrow to wide, shows the ball bouncing along with the delighted children, and each semi-page turn reveals new action in an effect akin to flipbook-style animation. Six of these narrow-wider-widest sequences appear, and each ends with a spread that shows the dog leaping after the ball as it creates more disruption. It bounces off to bonk a boy on the head as he picnics with his family, and similar sequences follow the dog and the ball as they scare a flock of pigeons, harass a zookeeper, and even provoke a fistfight. Discovering the dog's unassuming owner is the payoff, but the greatest interest is found in the almost forensic analysis Boyer performs on chaotic events as she breaks them down into separate, intelligible pieces. Ages 3-5. (Mar.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-K-Boyer uses digital art to illustrate her mostly wordless story about a dog in pursuit of a ball that bounces among a variety of people, animals, and things before it lands at the feet of its owner. Every other spread has two partial pages in between where the route of the ball is incrementally revealed. It bounces from a trampoline to a boy's head, into a circle of pigeons and into the zoo until it bounds off another head before reaching its final destination. On the inside back cover, a boy and the dog, reunited, are seen riding off on a pink scooter. The palette is unusual. The dog is orange/gold and the ball red, and all of the humans are drawn in black silhouettes; everything else (trees, giraffe, stop sign, etc.) is pink or blue. The minimal text is made up of simple active verbs: "Jump," "Catch," "Run," "Fetch," and "Go," plus, at the climax, "Good dog." The story can be extended through a discussion with a child about the action described in the simple text and creative illustrations.-Maralita L. Freeny, District of Columbia Public Library (c) Copyright 2014. 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
In this French import, a dog chases an elusive bouncing red ball, disrupting children jumping on a trampoline, a courting couple, picnickers, and zoo animals before reuniting with its owner. Each interaction unfolds via a sequence of partial pages and ends with a simple command ("Jump!" "Catch!" "Fetch!"). Boyer's inventive use of page turns and boldly colored minimalist art complement the energetic story. (c) Copyright 2014. 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
A yellow dog exuberantly chases a red rubber ball through the park, wreaking havoc. First, the ball bounces off a trampoline onto a child's head, then it disturbs a flock of birds that in turn upset a courting couple. The ball is nearly swallowed by a giraffe, then it knocks off a man's hat, causing a fistfight in a bus queue. The dog finally catches up to his master, who sits peacefully reading under a tree, unaware of all the preceding drama. The stylized, silhouetted figures and objects are rendered in a fresh clean palette of grays, baby pink, blue and yellow, with only the ball in red. The limited palette makes the pictures easily legible to young children, while adding a Seuss-ian fantasy element. Some pages are cut narrower, lending a flip-book speediness to the action. Boyer's book is a fresh European take on older, beloved Spot, with similarly childlike playfulness and humor. However this is not just another retro picture book. The figures are classic silhouettes, but there are contemporary touches: A bystander sports a baseball cap and earbuds, and the young man on the park bench is clad in a hoodie and sneakers. The text consists solely of commands"Jump!" "Catch!" "Run!" "Fetch!" "Good dog"but the illustrations tell a compelling story that young children will enjoy deconstructing for themselves. (Picture book. 2-5)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
