Review by Booklist Review
In this wordless picture book, the action begins when a beaver jumps on a log in a river and the log is picked up by a crane, stacked on a truck, and driven to a city. On arrival, the beaver explores the streets, escapes both a big dog and then a crocodile in a zoo, hides in a sewer, and then finally returns to the river, where he swims through the night and reaches home. The finely detailed, watercolor-and-pencil pictures are always true to the small creature's viewpoint, whether he is on the highway watching the skyscrapers whiz by or on the city sidewalk among the gray-clad legs of crowds of giants, and young children will easily recognize their own perspective. Drawn by the exciting adventure of leaving home, getting lost, and returning safely, kids will enjoy poring over the busy scenes and pointing out what they notice.--Rochman, Hazel Copyright 2010 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Only four words grace Cooper's (Beach) characteristically understated tale of a beaver whose log ride down the river becomes the first leg of a long urban journey-the log and beaver are soon loaded onto a truck and transported to a city lumberyard. The beaver is always depicted naturalistically, but as it stands atop the log and seems to take in the massive city unfolding before it, there's a hint of realization in its pose that matches the text on the opposite page ("Beaver is lost"). Cooper's dappled watercolors appear in rectangular panels of varying sizes that underscore the heights, depths, and distance the beaver travels. It scurries away from a frisky lumberyard dog, dives beneath an inflatable crocodile in a backyard pool, encounters fellow beavers at the zoo, scampers somewhat comically through pedestrians' legs, and darts after a mouse before eventually swimming "Home" to its dam. Cooper's artwork has a placidity that never allows the city to feel too overwhelming-or frightening. Beaver is always in control and often comes across as curious, making a potentially scary situation an adventure. Ages 3-7. (June) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-K-A young beaver climbs onto a narrow log and floats away from his family. He ends up lost in a vast city where he is chased by a dog, encounters a fake alligator in a swimming pool, passes through the Beaver Exhibit at the zoo, and swims across a lake. The animal emerges onto a crowded street where he follows a mouse down a long flight of stairs to a bay. He swims across the large expanse of water and reaches home late at night, where his family is waiting. This is basically a wordless story, told frame by frame in pictures. The watercolor and ink illustrations are mostly done in soft browns, beiges, and pastels. Youngsters should enjoy following Beaver's trek as he searches for home, perhaps telling the story in their own words.-Donna Atmur, Los Angeles Public Library (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
Intent on his gnawing, Beaver doesn't realize that the log he is riding has slipped downstream to a lumber camp, where it's loaded onto a truck, Beaver still attached, for the ride into the big city (the pictures show Chicago). How will he ever get home? The placid tones of Cooper's watercolors never leave a happy ending in doubt, but Beaver's journey, attentively captured in wordless horizontal panels, has its small dangers (dogs, mainly) for him and rewards for readers, as the little guy swims and walks though the mostly oblivious city. A helpful fellow rodent-read rat-finally leads the way back to the Chicago River, which Beaver enters with a majestic splash displayed on a full double-page spread, and thence home. It's a neat, circular adventure, well paced and easy to follow in the panels, one that will have pre-readers eager to make the trip again and again. From HORN BOOK, (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
When unflappable Beaver accidentally lands in the big city, he encounters challenges finding his way home. It all starts when he hops aboard a floating log and ends up on a logging truck heading to the city, where he's chased by a dog, swims in a backyard pool, visits the zoo, escapes into a lake, exits through a culvert, emerges into a street, locates the river and swims home. The sparer-than-minimal text heralds Beaver's arrival in the city with "Beaver is lost" and announces his return to his lodge with "Home." The rest of Beaver's saga unfolds entirely through Cooper's splendid watercolor-and-pencil illustrations. Using a palette of blues, greens and browns, the illustrator tracks Beaver's diminutive figure as he resolutely traverses an alien, urban landscape progressing unflaggingly from left to right across pages and through frames in his solitary, silent journey astride the log, atop the truck, across the pond, through the culvert and city crowds and, eventually, back into the river to swim home. Stunning in their simplicity, these pictures speak a thousand words. (Picture book. 3-7)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
