From School Library Journal
Starred Review. PreSchool-Grade 2—Seeger's ability to transform everyday words and objects into an amazing concept book continues with
One Boy. Using the numbers 1 through 10, her signature die-cut pages, and a vocabulary that is designed to show words inside other words, the author has engineered a tribute to wordplay that is unmatched. On readers' first trip through the text, it will appear that the 10 objects are loosely linked only by their spelling patterns ("Two seals,/At the sea"; "Ten ants/In your pants"). As the story concludes, however, it becomes clear that all of the art was painted by the "one boy" who started it all. Youngsters will quickly return to the beginning to study the paintings more closely. While preschoolers will enjoy the book's design and take pleasure in guessing at what is next to appear, it is children who are beginning to develop their sight vocabulary who will most appreciate Seeger's efforts. This is one boy who won't be left alone for long.—
Maura Bresnahan, High Plain Elementary School, Andover, MA Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
*Starred Review* Seeger’s First the Egg (2007) was named both a Caldecott Honor Book and Theodore Seuss Geisel Honor Book. Here, she brings her considerable ingenuity to another clever picture book that works on many levels. On its surface, it is a one-to-ten counting book, illustrated with bright, simple pictures in saturated colors and heavy black outlines. Precise die cuts in every other page add another level of sophistication. On a two-page spread, text on the left identifies what’s to be counted—“THREE APES,” for example— while a die cut in the right-hand page exposes a picture of the subject through the hole. Turn the page, and the die cut frames a piece of the text from the previous spread, incorporating it into a new phrase that spells out a new situation—“BIG ESCAPE”—that is illustrated on the opposite page. And if that weren’t enough, the final spread links the entire book together with a string of consecutive images that is delightfully surprising. More than just a picture book to be enjoyed by countless counting toddlers, this offers deft wordplay to engage beginning readers, and enough provocative substance to entertain older children as well. A delight for a wide audience. Preschool-Grade 3. --Thom Barthelmess
