Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Light (A Spider Named Itsy) comically considers weather-related activities and responses in this conceptual board book. Each marker-, pen-, and watercolor-like spread finds the geometrically drawn protagonists, Sully the mouse and Gus the rhino, reacting to atmospheric surrounds alongside a single descriptive word at the pages' bottom. For Sully, a "SUNNY" day (and quite the sun it is, with a bright yellow center and a multitude of orange rays) means toasting on a beach blanket, while for Gus, "Phew--too hot!" A "WINDY" day is a boon for sturdy Gus to fly a kite, while smaller Sully chases down a hat through swirling purple-blue gusts. And a "FOGGY" day leaves both equally lost, with Gus searching for Sully, who's mistakenly headed in the opposite direction. But when a rainbow seems to embrace both characters in its striated arc, there's no dispute: the day is "BEAUTIFUL," an ending that makes this work a gentle lesson in both varied perspectives and meteorological vocabulary. Ages up to 3. Agent: Linda Pratt, Wernick & Pratt Agency. (Mar.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-K--Two friends, a rhino named Gus and a mouse named Sully, explore the weather in this enchanting board book. Minimal text takes a backseat to illustrations that are humorous and capture the weather accurately. VERDICT A fun read that will charm young and old alike. Highly recommended.
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Review by Horn Book Review
Purple rhino Gus, in his stripey pajamas, exuberantly greets mouse Sully: "What's the weather like today?" Sully speculates that it could be sunny, but Gus imagines himself with big droplets of sweat, and protests: "Phew! Too hot." Sully, meanwhile, imagines himself stretched out on a towel: "Mmmm. Toasty." The two go back and forth, thinking about weather that might be cloudy, snowy, foggy, or rainy. Each time, they have different responses to the type of weather, as when Gus loves the idea of flying a kite on a windy day, but Sully's kite blows away. The one kind of weather they agree on is the "beautiful" weather after the rain, with a rainbow stretching over them both. This brief board book has a very simple text but lots of playful humor, and small details to notice such as Sully's horizontal stripes and Gus's vertical ones. Light's (Black Bird Yellow Sun) watercolor illustrations use a mostly limited palette with yellows, purples, blues, and grays that seem to convey all of the different types of weather, with black pen-and-ink swirls and lines communicating motion. A good first look at all kinds of weather through the eyes of an engaging pair of friends. Susan Dove LempkeJanuary/February 2024 p.78 (c) Copyright 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.
