Review by Booklist Review
Ages 3-5. What a charmer. A young boy informs readers, "I went walking." The text page asks, "What did you see?" and sharp-eyed children will notice that hiding in the basket of logs is a black cat. This sets the pattern for what turns out to be a guessing game, as bits and pieces of various animals are shown on one page and revealed on the next. Identified by name and color, the animals will make an indelible impression on those just learning which animal is which. By the book's conclusion, the boy has a whole menagerie behind him. Now, when asked, "What did you see?" he replies, "I saw a lot of animals following me!" This is a marvelous piece of bookmaking. Clean, oversize white pages are an excellent backdrop for the slightly stylized animals that romp across the pages. Vivas, whose recent books include the unique The Nativity [BKL O 15 88] and The Very Best of Friends [BKL Mr 1 90] proves herself once again to be in the upper echelon of illustrators. Her watercolors have both motion and emotion, a dynamite combination. An excellent story hour choice, obviously. ~--Ilene Cooper
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Out for a stroll, a girl sees a variety of creatures--rendered in Vivas's distinctive, whimsical style--``looking at me.'' Ages 3-7. (Aug.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
A worthy successor to Bill Martin's Brown Bear, Brown Bear , What Do You See? (Holt, 1983). With its patterned response to the title, ``What did you see?,'' and the accompanying lead-in picture showing part of a farmyard animal, this book immediately draws children into the story. The lively, unspoken storyline of a shock-headed toddler playing silly games with the animals he meets and gradually shedding his shoes, socks, and jacket fills out the spare text for beginning readers. The accumulating line of animals marching in wild sweeping patterns across the page gives viewers a bouncy, flowing experience from page to page. With only six animals, the story is brief; the watercolors, while predominantly realistic in tone and anatomical detail, have an exaggerated roundness and glow that give a fanciful turn to the naming story. The animals and toddler become progressively more animated, until story's end, which features a two-page, wordless spread reminiscent of Max's ``wild rumpus'' in Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are . The focus on the pages is clearly on the short text and the characters, making for a simple yet active experience for beginning readers and very young listeners. --Ruth K. MacDonald, Purdue University Calumet, Hammond, IN (c) Copyright 2010. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Horn Book Review
A walk around the farmyard becomes an exuberant event for the small child featured in this simple repetitive tale. 'I went walking. / What did you see? / I saw a brown horse looking at me.' The same motif introduces a black cat, a red cow, a green duck, a pink pig, and a yellow dog. The illustrations are a rich interpretation of the short, spare story line. From HORN BOOK 1990, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
(c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Review by Kirkus Book Review
A beguiling cumulative story, beginning ""I went walking./What did you see?/I saw a black cat/Looking at me."" This simple verbal motif is repeated with several other familiar animals, while Vivas' playful, affectionate, stunningly designed illustrations hint at the surprises revealed at each page turn--and show the accumulating menagerie sporting with the happy, inquisitive child-narrator. A delight. Copyright ©Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
