PreS—This large, brightly colored picture book with very few words revolves around a class of preschoolers experiencing the four seasons. The thunderstorms of spring give way to the sun and flowers of summer, then to the fall leaves and winter snowflakes. Pictures have been created from various nontraditional materials, including textured wallpaper, stencils, plastic lace, and vinyl fabric, set against mainly white backgrounds. They show the children exploring the outside world as the weather changes. Text is minimal, limited to the sound of the outside world: "drip drip," "crinkle crinkle," "swirl swirl." Tying everything together is the underlying growing friendship between two of the children—a shy boy and an outgoing girl—depicted wordlessly through the illustrations. A solid choice for the very young.—
Judith Constantinides, formerly at East Baton Rouge Parish Main Library, LAAn ethnically diverse classroom of children hears the "BOOM BOOM!" of a thunderstorm. They explore outside as the last raindrops "drip drip"; which leads to puddle-jumping ("splash! splash!"). The rhyming pattern--with one or two onomatopoeic words per image--continues as the seasons progress ("crunch crunch" of leaves and apples in the fall). Authentically childlike emotion is conveyed by the mixed-media art.
A thunderstorm's "BOOM BOOM" instigates a riot of onomatopoeia knit into narrative. The story opens in an ethnically diverse classroom of children, one of whom (a little boy) is scared by the storm. A classmate notices that he is frightened and reassuringly takes his hand when the class goes outside to explore the world after the storm. Authentically childlike emotion and characterization is portrayed through the mixed-media art, since the text is limited to one or two words per image; "BOOM BOOM" is followed by "Flash! Flash!" -- and then the storm clears and the "drip drip" of the last raindrops gives way to the "splash! splash!" of exuberant puddle-jumping. Subsequent pages continue the rhyming pattern as seasons progress ("crunch crunch" of both the leaves underfoot and apples in the fall). One effective spread reads simply, "silent," and shows the two new friends in a blank, snowy landscape. This fearless use of white space underscores the pictures' graphic power and Chodos-Irvine's command of pattern and color. Hear! hear! to
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