Amazon.com Review
With his lush, gorgeous collages, Eric Carle hardly needs to write a word to make his picture books appealing.
Rooster's Off to See the World, in fact, may have been more successful as a wordless book. Rooster wakes up one morning and decides he wants to travel. Off he goes, picking up companions along the way (two cats, three frogs, four turtles, etc.). When night falls, the critters become cold and lonely and hungry, and, group by group, return home. It seems the message here is, "there's no place like home"; reassuring for toddlers, to be sure, but somehow a bit sad and disappointing, too. This small board-book edition is crowded with Carle's trademark illustrations, stunning in color and form--but also with wordy text and counting graphics in the upper right corner of each spread. The adding and subtracting element is an attractive and clever feature, but ultimately, it's a little too much. This said, children and adults will probably be so mesmerized by Carle's colorful collages, the rest won't matter. (Baby to preschool)
--Emilie Coulter
From Publishers Weekly
An octet of favorite picture books now appears as board book editions. Wanderlust sends a rooster to the road, and loneliness leads him to take on traveling companions in the adventure-cum-counting book Rooster's Off to See the World by Eric Carle. The type may be small, to fit the format, but symbols in the corner of each spread help readers keep track of the travelers' growing number.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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