Can You See What I See?: Picture Puzzles to Search and Solve [Hardcover]

Walter Wick (Author, Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up | Series: Can You See What I See?

Walter Wick's new book of search-and-find puzzles--each with a brain-teasing twist--is over the top!
Walter once again delights our eyes and challenges our minds with his own special wit and style.

With his signature style of photographic artwork, Walter Wick takes picture puzzles to a new level with CAN YOU SEE WHAT I SEE? Twelve tantalizing photographs are filled with fascinating objects, while rhyming text challenges readers with lists of items to seek and find. The text on each spread ends with a twist. Readers must go back and solve brain-teasing puzzles: follow an alphabet maze, identify parts needed to build a robot, discover objects in a mirror image that doesn't quite reflect what's really there! This book will provide hours of fun to puzzle-lovers of all ages!

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Deceptively simple, Walter Wick's Can You See What I See? pairs rhyming lists of miniature objects with big, jam-packed photographs of the kinds of odds and ends found in any toy chest: blocks, beads, robots, dice, marbles, plastic animals, and game-board playing pieces. As in the I Spy series by Wick and rhymester Jean Marzollo, readers are invited to find the objects buried within the carefully chaotic piles. But Wick goes beyond the original formula in this book, slipping extra puzzles into the picture. Each rhyme ends with the beginning of a new game; in "Spare Parts," for example, after finding the listed items, readers must match 10 parts to 10 broken toys. In other games, readers spot the differences between objects, find their way out of a maze, decipher cryptic messages, or figure out optical illusions. Clever, sharp-eyed kids who are ready for greater challenges than the I Spy picture riddle series (I Spy Year-Round Challenger!, I Spy Funhouse, etc.), fire up those brain synapses! (Ages 3 to 7) --Emilie Coulter

From Publishers Weekly

Wick (Walter Wick's Optical Tricks; the I Spy series) unleashes his boundless imagination to devise a dozen playful picture puzzles, each with a distinct theme. The large-scale photographs feature a carefully choreographed assortment of contemporary and vintage toys and other kid-pleasing paraphernalia. Alongside the images, a deceptively simple verse instructs youngsters to spot specific items in the picture. The author cleverly tweaks the game at the end of each rhyme, inviting readers (sometimes rather cryptically) to enter a puzzle-within-a-puzzle: they must either follow a maze, match two sets of objects, find differences in seemingly similar images or spot an optical illusion. Several of Wick's compositions stand out as particularly novel: one photo set in a wood shop reveals freshly carved animal figures, sprinkled with wood shavings; another assembles hundreds of miniature animals, beads and other objects used in making play jewelry all of them translucent and sparkling against a white background. Even sharp-eyed readers will find some of Wick's puzzles quite challenging to complete. These pages are nearly guaranteed to keep kids happily occupied for hours and coming back for return visits. All ages.

Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 40 pages
• Publisher: Cartwheel; 1St Edition edition (March 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0439163919
• ISBN-13: 978-0439163910
• Product Dimensions: 10.8 x 10.8 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (14 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #220,044 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

When I was young I was a reluctant reader. It was hard for me to sit still and read a book. I preferred activities that got me moving, like neighborhood ball games, bike riding, skiing, sledding, skating, climbing trees, and exploring the woods in Connecticut where I grew up.

I taught also myself to draw. I became fascinated with shapes, shading, and trying to make the objects in my drawings appear to pop out in 3-D. Later I became interested in photography. I took pictures in the woods with my camera, tinkered with equipment in the darkroom, and experimented with artistic effects.

Much later I became the photographer of the I SPY books, in collaboration with writer Jean Marzollo. I did more than take the pictures. I thought of ideas, sketched ideas, collected props, made props, built sets, arranged objects, hid objects, adjusted lights, and took a picture. Then I rearranged objects and took another picture -- sometimes over and over again.

I write as well as illustrate my own books now. In A DROP OF WATER, I combine simple text with clear photographs to explain science secrets of the everyday world. In WALTER WICK'S OPTICAL TRICKS, the everyday world is turned upside down with impossible objects, phantom images, and other perplexing illusions. With the CAN YOU SEE WHAT I SEE? series, I continue the picture-puzzle tradition, taking readers on ever more amazing adventures of the imagination in their quest for hidden objects.

Happy reading!

Walter Wick

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The best of the picture puzzles., May 10, 2002

By 

MLPlayfair (Ravenna, OH) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Can You See What I See?: Picture Puzzles to Search and Solve (Hardcover)

These 12 pictures puzzles are beautiful to look out and ageless to figure out. In a picture puzzle, clear photography and faultless printing are essential. CAN YOU SEE WHAT I SEE? is the best I've ever seen. With this one there's very little of the trying to guess "what is that blurry thing?" that you get in other picture puzzle books. And it's clear what you're looking for. One nice thing too is that the list of things to find is right on the page with the picture -- no flipping back and forth to other pages. This is so much fun that after a friend saw my book she went and ordered one for herself, and when her niece saw hers and wanted one of her own, she got her one, too. I'm telling you, this is really fun -- and addictive. Whether you look at it alone or with a group, you'll have a good time! Makes a great ice breaker.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars If you love the I SPY series, you'll LOVE this!, May 14, 2002

By 

Mangy Fox "dreadlock goddess" - See all my reviews

This review is from: Can You See What I See?: Picture Puzzles to Search and Solve (Hardcover)

In Can You See What I See? Walter Wick takes the basic picture puzzle one step further and adds another element of puzzle to it. One example of this is, as well as finding different objects listed in the amazing photos, you have to determine what is missing on several playing cards. These twists give added challenge, especially thrilling for adult fans. I definately am excited to see what Mr. Wick will deliver in the future.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Walter Wick Does It Again, May 5, 2002

By 

Johnnie Lou Kuykendall (Lawton, Ok. USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Can You See What I See?: Picture Puzzles to Search and Solve (Hardcover)

My speech therapy students and I are loyal fans of Walter Wick's I Spy books. We anxiously await each new book wondering what the new book's theme will be. Can You See What I See? has gone beyond our expectations. This is a wonderful picture puzzle book that appeals to all age levels. As an educator, I find the language development opportunities are endless. My students enjoy the clues and pictures without realizing how many skills they are learning from the book. This book can provide wonderful opportunities for parent/child interaction as well as classroom fun!