The Yellow Balloon [Hardcover]

Charlotte Dematons (Author)

Book Description

Age Level: 2 and up

Writer and illustrator Charlotte Dematons brings the same enchanting look to this picture book that made her Worry Bear and Looking for Cinderella so successful. Lovely watercolors portray a great and diverse planet teeming with life at all times of day and night. People and animals of every shape, color, size, and costume are seen, busy at work and play. As the yellow balloon floats through many time periods - ancient, medieval, and contemporary - and realms both natural and supernatural, young readers can also look for the small blue car, the fakir on his flying carpet, and the scoundrel in prison garb. This story will fascinate young readers as they embark on a lively and fun-filled journey around the globe.

Editorial Reviews

From School Library Journal

PreSchool-Grade 3-This wordless picture book traces the journey of a rogue balloon as it is carried along from scene to scene. This format is similar to that of Jean Marzollo's "I Spy" books (Scholastic) and Martin Handford's "Where's Waldo" series (Candlewick), as children are challenged to find the tiny balloon, as well as other objects, in action-filled pictures. The aerial views are panoramic and the colors are breathtaking. Depicting many different parts of the world and many unique landscapes, the illustrations are imaginative and elaborate, and brimming with hundreds of captivating miniature details. At closer scrutiny, observers will see that Dematons combines images from various time periods: a truck is loaded with tomatoes while a short distance away, marauding warriors on horseback pillage a walled town. An escaped convict creeps from page to page, while a man wearing white robes and a turban travels on a magic carpet. With the artwork providing a springboard, opportunities for picture-inspired storytelling are unlimited. This stunning offering has broad appeal.
Corrina Austin, Locke's Public School, St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

K-Gr. 3. Using the same approach as the author's Let's Go (2001), this oversize, wordless picture book, originally published in the Netherlands, is a combination of Where's Waldo and The Red Balloon. It opens as a blue SUV departs from a lone house, a yellow balloon floating in the sky above. After being swallowed up in a busy, colorful metropolis, the car proceeds on a worldwide tour, captured in double-spread vistas viewed from overhead. Each scene is crammed with myriad, tiny details that collapse time, placing the contemporary, the historical, and the fantastic side-by-side (an aircraft carrier on the ocean passes a sea serpent and wooden warships exchanging broadsides). The car and the yellow balloon provide the "narrative" thread, until their journey ends, right where it began. Don't expect a story. The appeal is the discovery of new and recurring images within each brightly colored milieu--a coven of witches in the forest, Batman in a corner, a fakir on a magic carpet, a fugitive in prison-striped garb. The art demands repeated viewings, and the more you look, the more you see. Julie Cummins
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Reading level: Ages 2 and up
  
• Hardcover: 32 pages
• Publisher: Lemniscaat USA; Illustrated edition (April 9, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1932425012
• ISBN-13: 978-1932425017
• Product Dimensions: 13.1 x 9.9 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.1 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #822,977 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:

4.0 out of 5 stars Luscious pictures, January 15, 2005

By 

Anonymous (seattle) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Yellow Balloon (Hardcover)

This is to rebut the previous review. Based on that review, I scanned our library copy carefully before checking it out. I found the book delightful and immediately shared it with my children. Some of the "objectionable" pictures are subjectively interepreted--for instance, where the previous reviewer saw an insane man dressed as batman, I merely saw as Batman himself (supported by the fact that if one looks carefully at the pictures, you can also find Little Red Riding Hood and Mary Poppins). I found the nude beach (less than one inch square) but completely missed the "children spying on naked people." The ghosts are teeny and cute. And so on. My children loved looking for the common elements in each beautiful picture. As in any book, look it over yourself and decide if you want your kids to see it. There ARE three or four impaled men in one scene, though, like every other element they are very small. I felt that these tiny images did not detract from a beautiful book.

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars we LOVE this book, April 10, 2005

By 

lisakitt - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Yellow Balloon (Hardcover)

I don't think I have ever written a review but I had to write to offer an opposing opinion to the earlier review. My 4 year old loves this book. We have looked at it more times than I can count and he has never noticed the "impaled people" frankly, neither had I (and I am accused of many of being way over-protective of what my child is exposed to) There are so many things to see and I find it charming overall. Batman is Batman. The lost children are Hansel and Gretel. The skater just has a red design on his shirt and has poor balance. Fire trucks are on the way yo help the people in the fire and there is a life boat helping those from the sinking ship(Titanic?) The witches are having a bonfire. Maybe roasting marshmallows? PLEASE do not write off this book based on one review. Check it out for yourself.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Outstanding book to read with your child!, January 19, 2010

By 

Melissa (CA, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Yellow Balloon (Hardcover)

After reading this book, I too felt compelled to post a positive review to counter the ridiculous reviews below. Yes, there are some images, tiny as they may be, that have the potential to mildly trouble an already extremely sheltered child. As a preschool teacher, when I sit down with a child to read a book like this I try to use the much needed unsugar-coated imagery to initiate meaningful conversations with my students. If a child notices the boy who's fallen off his bike on the second page, then perhaps we could talk about the importance of bike safety, wearing your helmet, or better still, mustering the courage to get back up and try again. As for the nudity on a minute portion of the beach page, I for one think it's okay for children to know that naked bodies are good and appropriate in some circumstances, and I don't think an innocent conversation about how mommies and daddies sometimes have pubic hair will forever corrupt a child.

What saddens me most about the previous comments is the reviewers' failure to acknowledge the incredible potential in a book like this. This book is an invitation to sit down with your child and explore the world, answer important questions, acknowledge differences across cultures, and wonder, together, about the beautiful global community in which we all live.

If this book troubles you then I'll spare you the horror and advise you to never read The Busy World of Richard Scary, Where's Waldo, Where the Wild Things Are, The Giving Tree, The Gruffalo, anything by Shel Silverstein, The Three Little Pigs, Little Red Riding Hood, Curious George, and well, just about anything that will hold your child's attention and foster a love for reading.