Customer Reviews

Shadow

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

If you loved "Where the wild things are", you will love Suzy Lee's "Shadow". The illustrations are full of energy, it captured the imagination of child's play. It is a must read!

This delightful, creative storybook is basically wordless. The endpapers are black; and with a simple "click" a young girl pulls the light on in a garage. On the left side of the page are the contents of the garage, and on the right, their shadows. As the story progresses, the girl creates shadow puppets with her hands, and other items. The`shadow page' begins to reflect her imaginary characters, and are shaded in yellow. As her imaginary scene becomes more involved, the shadow page becomes more yellow, and the garage items, opposite, disappear, until there is a barrage of black imaginary characters, where a story within a story unfolds until someone hollers, "DINNER'S READY!" Girl and reader are brought back to reality, where the items in the garage are tumbled around. She clicks off the light, the pages go black, and slowly, yellow shading and the characters she imagined reappear....

I bought this book and Suzy Lee's other book, Wave, for my 4 year-old niece. It was a hit. She kept flipping through both books over and over. She would walk away, and then come back to slip through them again. Which is exactly how I felt when I flipped through them. Even though it is a picture book, it really sparks the imagination. This will be one of my new favorite go-to gifts for children. And I really think it would be appropriate for any age. One that can be passed down for generations.

We are a visual family, and this book is so appealing. Pull the chain on the light bulb in the cleaning closet, and have a look around. There is so much to notice on every page.

Being nearly wordless, everyone can read it differently. It does for wordless books what "Where the Wild Thigs Are" did for bedtime stories - gives kids a thrill and a chill and brings them back for more.

* Shadow is a most unique and charming book.

* This wordless book tells a large story.

* The absence of words allows for a great use of imagination.

* Beautifully illustrated in only three colors, this book is truly a work of art.

* This would make a beautiful gift for many different ages, including design and art loving adults.

----------------------------------------------

Shadow is a beautiful work of art that allows imaginations to soar, children and adults alike. An almost entirely wordless book, told only through Lee's gorgeous and spare illustrations. The young heroine starts out in the family's attic, with a "click" of the light, she is thrown into a world of light and shadow, represented only with the colors black, white and yellow. To start, the left side of the spread shows the attic as is, with our little girl in the middle, while the right side of the spread is the shadow interpretation of the attic. On the right, brooms become flowers, ladders become vines and hoses become snakes. Slowly the right and left sides of the spread combine to become a celebration of the creative power of our young heroine and the reader. There is no right or wrong story, just the one the reader wants to imagine. This and other wordless books make for terrific confidence boosts for young, fledgling readers.

A light bulb clicks and a young girl plays in her house, her shadow always visible to the reader. As she plays and imagines, the young girl dances through a creative tableau, telling the story of dramatic play. Animals and critters and nature abound, until the call for dinner comes. Then, a light bulb clicks, leaving darkness behind. Told entirely with images, children ages 3-6 will want to play.