Four In All [Hardcover]

Nina Payne (Author), Adam S. Payne (Illustrator)

Book Description

Age Level: 4 and up | Grade Level: P and up

A unique collaboration between a mother and son, Four in All finds pleasant patterns by grouping four related things together, such as eyes ears nose mouth, sun moon stars sky, ocean river puddle lake, and mother father son daughter. This enchanting book features 14 such groupings, each illustrated by an intricately cut, richly colored collage.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

It is hard to say which is more poetic Nina Payne's (All the Day Long) exceptionally well-crafted text or her son's immaculately executed and thoughtfully conceived cut-paper collages. The text, a tightly edited, rhyming sequence of four-noun lines, conjures a child's world and stresses its stability: "eyes ears nose mouth/ east west north south/ oats wheat corn rye/ sun moon stars sky." The art, like the text, testifies to a deceptive modesty. The highly detailed collages show bucolic scenes: the child protagonist peeps out from behind a leafy tree, then stands at a crossroads and next embarks upon a narrow bridge. The palette of muted, almost earthy purples and blues, greens and reds, creates the sense of unbreakable calm; the humble 8" x 8" trim size reinforces the quietness of the Paynes' approach. All this understatement, however, gives life to the ambitiousness of their work. The child's journey is archetypal, flowing freely into fantasy (e.g., the quartet of "bear bird fish snake" joins the girl at the table for "fork plate knife spoon") and back into the safety of home (in the end, the girl rushes back toward her house, where her family waits outside: "mother father son daughter"). Very young children in particular will delight in the sturdiness of the language; and readers of all ages will want to keep an eye on a promising new illustrator. All ages.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

reS-Gr 1-A young girl embarks on a dreamlike journey of imaginative independence. On every spread, a four-word line of the poem appears: e.g., "eyes ears nose mouth" followed by "east west north south-." As she travels across water and sky, she encounters various objects that she transforms and uses to build a cozy, bent-branch and board house ("one two three four/roof window chimney door"). She entertains a group of animals (four, of course) who've sailed over to visit at her invitation trumpeted from the weathervane, then rises into the darkish sky ("earth air fire water"), returning to her home and family ("mother father son daughter") from whence she began her travels. There is charm and a nursery-rhyme quality to the cadenced verse, but no logic to the word quartets; the narrative thread is established through the wonderful cut-paper collage illustrations. The fibered textures in a richly nuanced palette ranging from earth tones to lovely blues, greens, purples, yellows, and reds are roughly cut into simple shapes that provide intriguing detail; there is plenty to look for while piecing together the story. The spreads alternate between cream borders and scenes that bleed off the page, and the perspective varies from face-to-face close-up to stunning distant expanse. One-on-one or small-group sharing offer the best chance to appreciate the exuberance and creativity of this simple gem.

Nancy Palmer, The Little School, Bellevue, WA

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 4 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Front Street imprint of Boyds Mills Press; 1st edition (September 9, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1886910162
• ISBN-13: 978-1886910164
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 8.3 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,226,809 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Enchanting story, October 17, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Four In All (Hardcover)

This book is remarkable. The poem uses simple words in fun rhythms while the story is told through the beautiful illustrations. It's a tale of a young girl setting off on an adventure through the world - she crosses a bridge, builds a house, meets a bear, crosses an ocean and eventually makes her way back home to her loving family. It's a pleasure to read aloud and to find the details in the pictures. I bought copies for all my favorite kids.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A book for collectors, July 28, 2003

By 

Nelly Kunzendorf (Munich, Germany) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Four In All (Hardcover)

I collect picture books. This one is different from all the others I have. The text is a poem consisting of seven pairs of lines. Each line has four words: Fork Plate Knife Spoon -- Morning Evening Midnight Moon. ... The pictures tell a story of their own, they do not "illustrate" the poem. The poem is the music for the pictures, or, maybe, it's the other way round.

This is a book for all ages. Even very young children can memorize the poem and discover the story told by the pictures. For adults, it's a book of art and poetry. I think it's misleading to sell it for "reading level 4 to 8".

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Best Book, December 28, 2001

By 

Beverly Bixler (San Antonio, Texas United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Four In All (Hardcover)

Just a note: this book appears on School Library Journal's Best Books of 2001 list (SLJ December 2001).