From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 2-To read this book, children must turn it sideways and then start at the bottom and follow the arrows to the top. Halfway through, they must turn it around and follow the arrows down. In doing so, readers will be rewarded with a fascinating combination of poetic text and artistic illustrations that clearly explain the organization of nature in our physical world. This is high art and a scientific classification that can be easily understood by young children. The book starts with the underbelly of a mole looking up surrounded by reddish-brown earth. Follow his gaze to roots growing in brown earth and then bright green grass. Layer upon layer, readers' eyes move upward to a toad, wildflowers, butterflies, a canopy of towering trees, birds, sky, and finally the moon. Turn the book around and come down through the clouds to the ocean waves, whales, seaweed, sea urchins, sponges, octopus, and fish, to the bottom of the sea. The melodic descriptive text and the brilliant artwork that spills to the edge of the page combine to introduce nature in its awesome glory. This fresh approach will delight inquiring minds and appeal to the curiosity and sense of discovery of young children. Each page will start their imagination working and will lead to thinking, learning, and amazement. This expertly crafted book can be used in storyhours, shared one-on-one, or looked at by children on their own. It will be enjoyed over and over again.
Marlene Gawron, formerly at Orange County Library, Orlando, FL
Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information, Inc.
PreS-Gr. 2. This interesting book gets off to an unusual start. Turn it lengthwise to begin. The directions tell children to follow the arrows as their eyes travel up and read from the bottom of the page to the top. The next awkwardly phrased instruction says, "halfway through, turn the book around and let your eyes travel down, reading from top to bottom." Well, it becomes obvious when you do it. On each page is the question "What's up if you're . . .?" from the viewpoint of various flora and fauna: a mole, a root, grass, a toad. Sometimes kids will puzzle over the answer. "What's up if you're a toad?" is "a sea of wildflowers," though children may expect water of some kind. The highest thing "up" is the moon, and then it's time to turn the book upside down and move down through sky and water to see "what's down." Children will have a chance to stretch their imaginations as they get a rudimentary idea of how the natural world works. The artwork, executed in chalks, has a muscular look that brings nature home. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved
About the Author
Lola M. Schaefer is the author of several books for children, including An Island Grows; Pick, Pull, Snap! Where Once a Flower Bloomed, an NCTE Notable Children's Book in the Language Arts; and What's Up, What's Down? She lives with her husband, Ted, in the mountains of north Georgia, where she occasionally observes the back end of a black bear, coyote, or gray fox.
Barbara Bash is pictured here with the spadefoot toad that lived in her studio while she worked on this book. The artist has written and illustrated a number of award-winning books on natural topics, including Desert Giant: The World of the Saguaro Cactus. She lives with her husband and son in the Hudson Valley of New York.
