From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 2–Let's go for a walk, along the block, and see what we can see…. With this opening line Cooper invites readers on a virtual evening stroll down an ordinary suburban street. On each spread, a new house or two come into view, full of interesting homey details. As the walk progresses, the sky darkens and, finally, it is time to turn back. The artist then shows each house in reverse and points out the small changes that have occurred as night has come on. The text is spare but delightfully descriptive. Cooper's watercolor illustrations are likewise simple, but with very few lines he is able to suggest considerable detail. Children will enjoy pausing to look carefully at each page especially as the sky grows dark and night animals can be seen hiding in shadows. The muted colors and horizontal format of the illustrations give the book a restful feeling and make it a good bedtime story, and the text is easy enough for beginning readers. A lovely choice.
–Donna Cardon, Provo City Library, UT Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
*Starred Review* PreS. The author and illustrator of
Dance (2001) and
Ice Cream (2002) offers a gentle picture-book celebration of day's end. "Let's go for a walk, along the block, and see what we can see, before it's time for bed" begins the text, and short, simple phrases describe neighborhood activity: a gardener rests against her wheelbarrow, boys mow a lawn, a postman delivers "the last mail of the day." At the end of the block, near an open view of a bay dotted with boats, the narrator (never pictured but presumably a parent taking a child on an evening stroll) turns back toward home, noticing small details signaling that evening has deepened: "The mail has been opened. . . . The screen door is silent, the apple pie eaten." The clear, unfussy compositions echo the poetic words' soothing, elemental sounds--reminiscent of Margaret Wise Brown's
Goodnight Moon--which beautifully capture the soft, slow-down rhythms of dusk. Children will find much that's cozy, reassuring, and familiar in the scenes of the residential neighborhood, depicted in luminous watercolors and firmly penciled shapes, and they'll want to talk about what they see. They will also recognize hints of quiet mystery in mundane events, especially the everyday magic of the rising moon and the dreamtime that follows.
Gillian EngbergCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
