Review by New York Times Review
CHILDREN'S PICTURE BOOKS are called picture books for a reason. The words are vital, of course, and they usually play an equal role, but the pictures pretty much always do the heavy lifting. In books where the words are understated or spare, the pictures are often overstated and elaborate. And then there are the wordless picture books, where the pictures don't even share the spotlight. In these five new picture books, the pictures are back at center stage, but the spotlight is on the words - or play of words. This subtle relationship shift has consequences. As the wordplay gets more complex, the pictures must exert more effort and ingenuity to make sense out of it. The result is uniquely offbeat, and wildly whimsical. Most kids are familiar with the cryptic question: "Why is 6 afraid of 7?" The answer is Tara Lazar's latest title: "7 Ate 9." Lazar has transformed this classic riddle into an improbable whodunit, featuring an all-star cast of large, brightly colored, walking, talking numbers. The pun-laden story, told in the voice of a hard-boiled private eye (played, naturally, by the letter I), involves the attention-seeking number 6 (a.k.a. The Client), who tries to pin a dreadful crime (cannibalism!) on the elusive number 9. Along the way there are supporting roles from Zero (shrewdly posing as an 8), and 11 (never far from 7) and ?, a waitress who serves pi. Yes, pi. If this seems a little complicated, well, it is, but in a stylish, film noir kind of way. Lazar's crisp, well-paced prose, combined with Ross MacDonald's dynamic illustrations, make the story a lot of fun to read, even if you have to backtrack to get your numbers straight. Think of it as a kid-friendly version of "The Maltese Falcon," only with larger than life-size numbers, and no cigarette smoke. In Susan Hood's "Double Take!" a boy, his cat and an elephant wander around the city, acting out the definitions of opposite words. It begins simply enough, with Jay Fleck's expert compositions showing the difference between left and right, asleep and awake. But soon the concept shifts, from basic opposites to explaining what makes an opposite an opposite. Scale, perspective and point of view all come into play. Hood's rhyming prose gradually builds to a scene of a wild roller coaster ride, where she asks the reader to "do a quick double take." Fleck's picture shows the cat tied to a helium balloon, but the cat is above and the balloon is below - a clue that proves that the right-side-up book is now upside down. It's a satisfying highlight to a stimulating book. Rebecca Van Slyke has created a brave young cowgirl/etymologist in "Lexie the Word Wrangler." Lexie lives "west of the Mississippi," where, along with corralling "cantankerous cattle," she can lasso words from thin air. It's a place where trees sprout "baby letters," which grow into multisyllabic words, which are tossed into stew pots and herded into sentences, which eventually become stories. In other words: an ideal location for a writer's retreat. However, all is not hunky-dory in this wordplay utopia. A "word rustler" is on the loose. He has removed the letter D from Lexie's "bandana," turning it - literally - into a "banana." Worse yet, an extra S has transformed the "desert" into a giant "dessert." Lexie must track down this scoundrel and "bring him to justice." Jessie Hartland's artwork is playful and bright, and she does a valiant job integrating the wacky wordplay with the plot. This isn't an edge-of-your-seat western, but the book is packed with puns, twists of words and vintage cowboy dialect kids will enjoy imitating. A similar rascal is at work in Bill Richardson's "The Alphabet Thief." This longnosed, masked bandit is on a nefarious mission, starting with the letter A. Following the logic of "Lexie," when a letter, like B, is stolen, "bowls" become "owls," "brats" are turned into "rats," and a dog named "Bill" becomes "ill." The story is told in brisk, rhyming stanzas, by a determined, redheaded sleuth. The wordplay is fun - a "chair" becomes "hair," a "fox" turns into an "ox" - though some examples are a visual stretch. Throughout, Roxanna Bikadoroff's lively spot illustrations deftly keep pace as the altered words pile up. In the end, the redhead prevails, with a unique weapon; a Y-shaped slingshot that fires Z's. Don't worry, there is no bloodshed. Just swift and punitive sleep. In Ivan Brunetti's "Wordplay," a schoolteacher assigns her class a homework assignment: to create a list of compound words. Somebody suggests "homesick," and a picture shows a sad-faced house with a thermometer in its mouth. "Housefly" is seen as a house with wings. One student, fittingly named Annemarie, becomes obsessed. She looks for compound words everywhere around her, even where they don't exist. Brunetti's use of simple, sequential cartoons turns this basic exercise into a brief, but delightful story. Each of these books, though different in style and sensibility, is designed to spark a curiosity in language. They prove that whether it's chasing after a riddle, stealing alphabet letters or defining an opposite, the picture book is an ideal stage for the play of words. ? JON AGEE is the author and illustrator of many picture books, including "Milo's Hat Trick" and "Terrific," which will both be reissued in September.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [July 30, 2017]
Review by Booklist Review
This playful graphic novel for early readers offers an entertaining lesson in some quirks of the English language. In a classroom, Annemarie's teacher is giving a lesson on compound words, which Annemarie then imagines in a literal and very silly way. Homework becomes two peaked-roof houses on a construction job. Homesick appears as a feverish house with a thermometer in its mouth. Chickpea becomes a yellow baby chicken nesting in a pea pod. Sleepwalk gives Annemarie's bed, now wearing a smiling face and red sneakers, a pair of long, striding legs. Annemarie's comical visualizations continue on her way home from school, over dinner, as she's lying in bed, and even the next day, when she's back in class and completing her homework with one last compound word, Daydream. Brunetti's affable, graphic-design-style artwork, composed of crisp lines, rich colors, and blocky shapes and laid out in large-format panels, perfectly complements the visual jokes of the story, which will likely be familiar to many kiddos delighted by words.--Hunter, Sarah Copyright 2017 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
In a lighthearted exploration of compound words, New Yorker cartoonist Brunetti introduces a classroom of schoolchildren, rendered with the round heads and flattened perspectives that characterize his artwork. After receiving a homework assignment to create a list of compound words, a girl with a hair bun and eyeglasses delights in imagining the possibilities behind these verbal mashups. There's a six-handed handyman with another hand for his head, a ballroom filled with dancing sports equipment, and even an alternative definition for grasshopper: "You mean like a rabbit?" she asks her father. Colored type underscores the concept (for "bedtime," "bed" is red, and "time" is blue), and the girl's quiet pride in discovering compound words is as enjoyable as her loopy interpretations. Brunetti buoyantly conveys the joy of diving into newly acquired knowledge and the idea that learning and play aren't mutually exclusive. Ages 4-8. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-The fun begins with the title-Wordplay-a compound word for a book about compound words. Annemarie and her classmates work on their assignment to compile lists of compound words. "How about housework?" asks a boy. "YES!" responds the teacher as Annemarie quietly giggles, imagining cheery houses vacuuming and dusting. Each new word conjures up another humorous imagining-two boys playing catch with a foot (football) or a calendar page taking a nap (daydream). Brunetti's cartoon art is rendered in a modern, intentionally naive style-largely two-dimensional, with a childlike simplicity that will resonate with the book's audience. Panels vary in size but are symmetrical and clearly delineated by white borders. Word bubbles are white with simple black text. Compound words appear in red. In addition, children of many races and ethnicities are prominently featured. As with all of the publisher's offerings, this work contains tips for sharing comics with kids and is labeled with grade, Lexile, guided reading, and reading recovery levels. VERDICT An amusing language arts lesson in a comic book format, perfect for individual or small group sharing. What's not to love?-Lisa Taylor, Jacksonville Public Library, FL © Copyright 2017. 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 Kirkus Book Review
Fun with compound words defines this early reader.In a classroom headed by a white teacher, a diverse group of children with varied skin tones reviews a lesson about compound words. "Homework" is the first such word that a brown-skinned, black-haired girl named Annemarie identifies, and an accompanying illustration uses a thought balloon to show her imagining two anthropomorphic houses in hard hats doing roadwork with a jackhammer. Similar pictures and playful text follow in later spreads that depict Annemarie and other children in the classroom and playing on the playground while thinking of other compound words. The compound wordplay continues as Annemarie drives home with her father and then interacts with her family, all of whom share her coloring. A return to school has Annemarie turning in her homework, pleased with the many compound words she's listed. Throughout, humorous digitally colored cartoon illustrations provide context clues for readers decoding the compound-word-rich text. The use of panels in the well-designed spreads makes it easy to follow the engaging, sequential illustrations. Praiseworthy! (Early reader. 6-8) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
