The Littlest Family's big day

Emily Winfield Martin

Book - 2016

"The Littlest Family goes wandering in the woods and just when they think they are lost, they find their way home again"--

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Subjects
Genres
Picture books
Published
New York : Random House [2016]
Language
English
Main Author
Emily Winfield Martin (author)
Edition
First edition
Physical Description
1 volume (unpaged) : color illustrations ; 30 cm
ISBN
9780553511017
Contents unavailable.
Review by New York Times Review

ONE OF THE wonders of literature is its potential to generate worlds that are strange and unreal and yet entirely believable. "I wish I could be there!" we say with a mix of excitement and yearning when we are immersed in such an imaginary place. But it is difficult to create a world, even a tiny one, and some authors are more successful than others at playing demiurge, as three new picture books show. The forest, where so many such literary worlds are found, is the classic setting chosen by Emily Winfield Martin ("The Wonderful Things You Will Be") for her fourth picture book, "The Littlest Family's Big Day." One morning, a father bear, a mother bear, a child bear and a baby fox move into a tree trunk in the middle of the woods. As soon as they're settled, they go for a walk. We're told that they meet and greet a series of little animals and some elves, though oddly we don't see them together with the other creatures. They then follow the breeze and find the wind, which Martin depicts by showing flying fairies and butterflies. Using leaves as canoes, the family paddles down the river. A lizard standing on a lily pad sticks his tongue out at them. Given his placement at the margin of the right page and directly in the foursome's way, you might think he is trying to block their passage or otherwise interact with them, but when you turn the page the lizard is gone and the family is eating strawberries back on shore. When the rain starts - the narrator tells us it "pelted down," but we only see a few drops - they run for cover under a mushroom. While we're still waiting to learn what their diminutive size has to do with the story, they realize they are "Lost," and the capital L gives us a hint of what the real theme of the book might be. This comes in an arresting two-page spread, with a bold composition and contrasted palette of light and dark shades. But already on the next page they are "Found" by an owl. Given the difference in size and the natural disposition of raptors, I was hoping for at least some uncertainty regarding the owl's intentions, but the protagonists' composure makes it clear they are in no danger. In fact, they are flown home, where an expressionless crowd of tiny critters - the same ones they greeted earlier in the book - surprises them with a dinner party. The critters are all even smaller than the "littlest" family, which contributes to my confusion about what this fuzzily illustrated story is about. IN "DU IZ TAK?," her second picture book as both author and illustrator after "Home," Carson Ellis has created a fantastic microcosm with her usual grace and inventiveness. Her imaginary land is delightfully welcoming, even if - or especially because - it is also a realistic world, one with joys and dangers, achievements and disappointments (not to mention pipe-smoking roly-polies). In a made-up but easily decipherable language, Ellis presents a group of fun-loving bugs excited to discover a fast-growing plant. They build a fort on it, complete with a rope ladder, an acorn-topped chimney and a pirate flag. The bugs enjoy their time up there, playing, reading and eating mushrooms. But a fun-killing spider takes over the fort, to the rage and dismay of its legitimate owners. In an even more dramatic scene, a bird gobbles up the spider. While the bugs clean up the mess, a beautiful, large blossom appears on the plant. More creatures come to witness the magnificent spectacle in a spread that seems to be a celebration of life itself. Soon, though, the inevitable happens: The blossom wilts, the plant dies, the bugs leave. It's suddenly and magically nighttime. A cocoon that for the whole book has seemed to wait patiently to be part of the story finally opens. A moth comes out and dances elegantly to the music played by a cricket violinist. Then the snow makes everything still. But springtime, of course, arrives next, bringing new plants, bugs and stories. Many more amusing incidents should be left for the reader to discover. Given the genuinely handmade and idiosyncratic style through which Ellis once again demonstrates her mastery, I don't understand her decision to copy and paste certain elements of the drawings over and over again, in particular the digitally repurposed log and ground, which are such essential pieces of the composition of each spread. While most things in the pictures change, develop and even die, the log and the ground stay virtually the same through the four seasons, down to every paint stroke. Ellis might have intended this as a device to emphasize the growing of everything else around a few unchanging elements, but for me it breaks the spell of a lifelike universe created by hand. Even so, I was completely captivated by Ellis's wonderful creatures, their charming little world and their droll language. jon klassen'S typical minimalism reaches a new level of refinement in "We Found a Hat" - in my opinion the best and most stirring in his hat trilogy, which includes the Caldecott Medal winner "This Is Not My Hat." The story, unusually for a picture book, is told in three parts, each with a title. Without this subdivision, one wouldn't have the same reading experience, and that would be a shame. The first part opens against a flat, gray backdrop. Two turtles, identifiable by the different designs on their shells, find a tall and white cowboy hat. They both like it very much, and agree it looks good on each. But they immediately see the unresolvable problem: two turtles and only one hat. The best thing to do, they decide, is to leave the hat where it is, and move on. But Klassen, with his usual light touch, shows us that one of the turtles is already having selfish second thoughts. The second part finds the two watching the sunset from the top of a rock in the middle of what is now clearly a desert. But while one turtle is thinking of the sunset, the other, when asked, says she's thinking of "nothing." We know that's not true: The white hat is still on her mind. The third and final part - the most dramatic - presents a moral dilemma, a hard-to-resist temptation and a compassionate, lyrical resolution. Klassen, who speaks the language of the picture book like few other authors and illustrators these days, has created a masterpiece of honest feelings, emotional tension and poetic restraint. The digital artwork maintains the warmth and texture of graphite, the colors are subtly alluring, and thankfully, his own repeated reuse of some of the elements is adequately concealed. All this helps the reader feel immersed in a world that might be minimal, but is entirely credible. I wish I could be there! SERGIO RUZZIER is the author and illustrator of picture books including, most recently, "Two Mice" and "This Is Not a Picture Book!"

Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [October 8, 2016]
Review by Booklist Review

A little animal family moves to the forest, where a bright red door in a tree seems like the perfect home. After settling in cozily, they go exploring to find other woodland friends a rabbit, a squirrel, a bird, a raccoon family, a snail, and some gnomes all greet them with friendly smiles. Exploring a river deep and wild, they find a way to make boats out of leaves and use cattails for oars, while a large green fish swims lazily below. Just when they stop to rest, a storm comes, lightning zigzags, and rain pelts down, forcing them to shelter under a toadstool until a friendly owl flies the foursome home. Here large foldout pages reveal a spider web announcing Home over their front door, and all the woodland animals welcome them for a festive celebration lit by paper lanterns. Detailed illustrations for each double-page spread are in full color, using acrylic on wood and gouache. This gentle story of wanderers finding a place to belong will please bedtime listeners.--Gepson, Lolly Copyright 2016 Booklist

From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review

A family of tiny bears has settled into its new tree trunk home, and now it's time to explore the forest neighborhood-or, as Martin (The Wonderful Things You Will Be) writes, "set out on a wander." They find welcoming animal and elf families, butterfly fairies, and a river "deep and wild" that they skillfully navigate on skiffs made from leaves. Momentarily lost after a rainstorm, the bears are flown home by a huge, benevolent owl ("But when you are Lost, it is the best time to Found," Martin opines) and feted with a forest block party on a foldout spread. Martin's fans know what they like: pretty, decorative artwork with touches of magic, and characters who are unfailingly serene, whether they're confronted by nature's grandeur or an animal (the owl) that could easily eat them. But even skeptics will enjoy the cozy details of the bears' world, including a mail carrier who's an actual snail and an elf child so engrossed in a book that he doesn't even look up as he waves good-bye. Ages 3-7. Agent: Brenda Bowen, Sanford J. Greenburger Associates. (Oct.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.

(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review

PreS-Gr 2-A bear family find a home in the woods and set off on a "wander" through their new environment. Following the wind, they come upon a fairy-filled landscape. Using leaves as boats, they "wander on the water." When rain disrupts their picnic, they shelter under a mushroom until an owl arrives to carry them home. The text is printed in cursive, and while the prose is spare, Martin's word choice is unusual and delicious. Among other alliterative examples is her description of the family's day as a "wander " in the "wind" and the "wild" and the "warm." Even her use of the word wander for an outing, so similar to wonder, connotes an intent for the characters to really see the world around them. Long brushstrokes depict towering trees and grasses in the lovely illustrations, executed in a muted palette using acrylic on wood and gouache. They provide surprises on almost every page for readers to see and discuss (including the bears' different shades of fur). When viewed up close, the bears appear normal size. But when seen among huge trees, enormous grasses, leaves as big as boats, and fish as big as whales, they are tiny indeed. The owl that comes to their rescue fills the page as they strain to look up at it. Their flight home opens onto a striking gatefold that reprises the many creatures the family has encountered. VERDICT A delightful choice for storytime and small group sharing.-Marianne Saccardi, Children's Literature Consultant, Cambridge, MA © Copyright 2016. 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

After moving into its new wooded home, a family of tiny bears "sets out on a wander," meeting other diminutive creatures, animal and fantastical, and becoming briefly lost. When they return, their new neighbors throw a party, pictured on a gatefold. The relatively drama-free story is nevertheless rich with pleasant language, and Martin's acrylic and gouache paintings have a whimsical, old-timey charm. (c) Copyright 2017. 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 forest-dwelling family of tiny anthropomorphic bears and a baby fox go adventuring.Martins exquisite acrylic-and-gouache illustrations will invite readers to pore over their details in order to take in the many wonders of the miniature, fantastic woodland setting. After setting up house behind a red door at the base of a tree, the littlest family ventures out for a walk, the baby fox in a walnut-shell stroller. (Its a mixed marriage, father bear a tawny brown, mother bear dark brown, and the children lighter shades of brown.) Were they alone? asks the text, printed in a type that approximates cursive. Readers who spy a fairy in the lower-left corner of the verso can anticipate the response at the page turn: They were not! Not at all. They greet tiny bunnies, squirrels, birds, raccoons, a bug and a snail, and elves. The familys wanderings take them boating on leaves across waterways to a spot where they eat wild strawberries, through a storm and to shelter under a toadstool, and then they are lost. A benevolent owl helps them find the best place of all, HOME, which is depicted in a gorgeous full-bleed double gatefold. The absence of rich characterization and a fully engaging story is mitigated by the illustrations achievement: the art outshines the text throughout. Martin is an illustrator to watch. Looking closely at little details will offer readers big rewards. (Picture book. 3-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.