Boy Here, Boy There

K-Gr 3–A Neanderthal family, tired from their long journey, arrives at a mountain cave and begins to set up camp. The boy is not tired and the river valley below beckons. “Boy here, everywhere there, waiting for boy.” Off he goes down toward the river. On the way he observes myriad flora and fauna: huge trees, little bugs, a bear, blueberries, caribou, birds, mammoths, and more. When he reaches the river’s edge and looks across, he is surprised to see a boy (Homo Sapiens) who looks kind of like him. The boy and his family are equally surprised until “Strangers there, moving on. A hand is raised, and disappears.” The first boy heads back up to his family where after dinner, the boy takes his ash-covered hand and raises it to the wall, leaving his handprint behind. Groenink’s text is best described as poetry and, as such, this works best read aloud. The sparse text easily conveys meaning, but it’s the beautiful and realistic illustrations that do the heavy lifting. From the lush landscape in panoramic view to up close with a baby mammoth, the feeling of nature is all around; a successful use of a variety of perspectives, varying illustration size, plus deliberate use of white space keeps it fresh and interesting. The characters are full of life with easily read facial expressions and body language. Back matter includes an author’s note about Neanderthals and a list of resources.