Review by New York Times Review
"SOMEONE GOES ON A JOURNEY" ÍS One of the guiding precepts of narrative; "Are we there yet?" is one of the guiding precepts of childhood. Picture books must inhabit the middle of this Venn diagram, offering stories as scenic and driving as any novel, at a pace more novel than driving through scenery. Four new package deals have come across my desk; let's see what we can book. Anthony Browne, over the course of a long and impressive career, has embarked on voyages ranging from the Joycean interiors of "Voices in the Park" to his adaptation of "King Kong," which is the sort of book you need to keep in a separate room from the one in which you're sleeping. His new picture book, "What If ... ?," is an anxious effort, too. Young Joe worries on his way to a birthday party, and as he shares his fears with his mother - "It's nice to meet new people"; "Not if they're HORRIBLE!" - they peek through the windows of all the homes on the block, revealing various unnerving tableaus in Browne's trademark sharp detail, some in homage to such party killers as Bruegel and Tenniel. The party turns out O.K., but the touch of shadow one always finds in Browne's work - not to mention the book's discomfiting title - tells us that this is nothing but luck. The endpapers display a vast array of stars - a world of possibility where the chances of a lovely time, particularly in the British suburbs, are no greater than those of being attacked by wild beasts. The young heroes of Aaron Becker's "Quest" don't seem nervous at all - admirable, or perhaps foolhardy, given the scope of their adventure. "Quest" is the sequel to Becker's Caldecott Honor book, "Journey," another wordless picture book with an enormous following. One hates to rain on parades. "Journey" begins with a bored girl drawing a door with a glowing red pen - or perhaps a wand - that then opens and leads her to a world of wonder. By the start of "Quest" she has been joined by a friend with another enchanted, um, crayon. I'm not the first critic to comment on Becker's debt to "Harold and the Purple Crayon," but while Crockett Johnson invested his device with a deadpan anarchy - first Harold draws too many pies, then a moose and porcupine to finish them - the crayons of "Quest" provide quick-fix solutions. Locked doors? The children draw keys. Need to swim? Scuba gear. Similarly, the vast landscapes, though ably detailed in vibrant watercolors, are just what you would think of when you think of things like this. The king has a long white beard, the underwater city looks like every Atlantis; it would be nice if Becker and his heroes were dreaming up something beyond basic genre. There's nothing wrong with a familiar adventure, but here's hoping that the third book in the Journey trilogy - even money it's titled "Voyage" - takes us into more startling territory. The territory is startling from the moment you open "Pomelo's Big Adventure," the fourth book in the Pomelo the Garden Elephant series - the endpapers show a landscape of striped rocks and other not-quite-discernible items from the world of Ramona Badescu (loopy words) and Benjamin Chaud (loopier pictures). Pomelo the elephant decides to set out on an adventure "now that his dandelion is bare." If we understand these books as ways to help children get a grip on the world, this sort of off-kilter beginning has precisely the bewildering texture of real life, in which a picture book reader might find herself strapped into a plastic seat right after breakfast, the better to be punctual for circle time. Philip C. Stead, most famous for writing the deserved classic "A Sick Day for Amos McGee," starts his new book, "Sebastian and the Balloon," in the same slanted way: "Sebastian sat high on his roof - something he was never supposed to do. 'There is nothing to see on my street,' he thought. ... 'Tonight I'll leave and see something new for a change.'" On a roof, near a bare dandelion : We're already someplace interesting before we leave, and both books tug us into dynamic worlds as harum-scarum as they are utterly believable. Pomelo and Sebastian do their packing - the elephant takes, among other things, "his toothbrush, his knife-fork, his pillow, an old photograph, some ribbon, pumpkin seeds, a world map" and other items that we do and do not spot in the brilliantly scattered illustration, while Sebastian gathers "all the things he would ever need," letting us catalog his holdings ourselves. In both books, some of the items come in handy and some never appear again; to summarize either journey is to insult the dashing and daring these wonderful stories accomplish. As with Sendak or Murakami, one has the sense that literally anything can happen, without the work feeling reckless or ungrounded; also like Sendak and Murakami, the two books really have hardly anything in common. "Pomelo's Big Adventure" feels like a story one improvises for a child, adding more details and twists as the mood strikes. "Sebastian and the Balloon," on the other hand, feels like a story one hears from a child, intriguingly full of missing information. Pomelo gets conned by an unnamed animal - Chaud makes him look like a rat - and ends up with a friend; Sebastian gathers friends as he goes, and ends up somewhere the thoughtfully minimal text, and Stead's multitextured illustrations, cannot describe. "They rode... and rode," the book concludes, Sebastian and the others having reached (and repaired) a roller coaster, "until the wind picked up and it was time to go," this last page giving us nothing but a grainy blue sky and a single bird - it's a goose-pimply moment. Pomelo, on the other hand, can be found everywhere - an early spread describes his route as "prickly, uphill, sticky, boring, surprising, lively and ... lost in the distance." But far from lost, there are 11 Pomelos across Chaud's every-which-way depiction, easily one of my favorite illustrations of the year. "Pomelo's Big Adventure" and "Sebastian and the Balloon" show that every step of the way, from packing to snacking, is part and parcel of an exciting journey; like all terrific books, they're reasons enough to travel. DANIEL HANDLER'S latest book as Lemony Snicket, "Shouldn't You Be in School?," has just been published.
Copyright (c) The New York Times Company [September 28, 2014]
Review by Booklist Review
*Starred Review* Life on Sebastian's street is so monotonous that the young boy assembles a large balloon, stocks it with all the things he would ever need, and flies away, accompanied by a small, red bird. Along his travels, he meets a bear and a lanky stork-like bird with whom he shares pickle sandwiches, thus cementing their friendship. After the balloon is accidentally punctured, Sebastian and his companions encounter three creative women who assist in getting the balloon aloft again and lead the way to more adventure. Sebastian is a young child who takes charge of his world: navigating a balloon, accumulating a friendly though unconventional crew, taking an all-day roller-coaster ride. Quiet humor permeates the pictures and text: Sebastian is shown choosing items for his trip from a wide array of belongings, including a potted flower, a grandfather clock, and a boat. Illustrations created with oils, pastels, and pressed charcoal, mainly in intense red, blue, gold and brown, are imbued with texture and varying perspectives, making them a joy to peruse. Sebastian's story doesn't end here but is merely the first leg in a journey toward all the possibilities his future holds. A sweet and quirky flight of fancy.--Owen, Maryann Copyright 2014 Booklist
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Stead returns to elements of A Home for Bird and Jonathan and the Big Blue Boat in this story of a spontaneous journey, motivated by boredom. There is nothing to see on my street, laments Sebastian, observing his drab neighborhood from the steep roof of his house. Two page turns later, the boy has built a spherical hot-air balloon from Grandmas afghans and patchwork quilts and sets off. Each time Sebastian lands, he meets someone and shares a pickle sandwich; soon, a bear, a stork, and three elderly sisters have come aboard. Together they travel to a rickety wooden roller coaster, which they repair and ride until the wind picked up and it was time to go. With a retro palette of cyan, rust orange, and mustard, Steads moody charcoal-line illustrations recall Ray Cruzs 1970s illustrations for Judith Viorsts Alexander books. The low-key story is infused with melancholy (Sebastian never smiles) yet offers a degree of comfort as Sebastian and his fellow lonely hearts band together on a journey with no real destination in mind. Ages 3-7. Agent: Emily van Beek, Folio Literary Management. (Oct.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Review by School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 2-Sebastian sits on the roof of his house. "There is nothing to see on my street, he thought. Nothing to see at all." Readers see a close-up of the glum boy and the top of the roof; his world indeed looks small and boring. On the page turn, he decides, "Tonight I'll leave and see something new for a change." Now Sebastian stands on the roof silhouetted by a giant moon, and the whole neighborhood is revealed. Although the houses are uniform and unexciting, the world seems large and full of possibilities. Accompanied by a little bird, Sebastian sets off in a balloon built from afghans and quilts. He and his companion share pickle sandwiches with a bear, crash into a tall bird that pops their balloon, and land on the house of a trio of elderly knitters who repair the vehicle. When the wind picks up, they all fly off together to find "The most perfect roller-coaster you will ever see." They fix the broken-down coaster and spend the day enjoying their handiwork, "Until the wind picked up and it was time to go." Readers who don't mind a slightly open-ended narrative will adore this dreamy, experiential story for its quirky charms. Stead's trademarks are present in this volume: pithy, talking animals, quixotic travel, and a matter-of-fact sensibility offsetting fantastic events. Marvelous artwork guarantees that his fans won't be disappointed.-Anna Haase Krueger, Ramsey County Library, MN (c) Copyright 2012. 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
Nostalgic charm pervades Stead's latest offering, beginning with the age-old inducement of boredom to propel its protagonist into adventure. After gathering "all the things he would ever need," Sebastian sets out in a hot-air balloon to "see something new for a change." His vessel is made of a box, strings, and "Grandma's afghans and patchwork quilts"; a small, red bird (unmentioned by the text) flies along as his companion. Delightful encounters with "a real bear" and "a very tall bird" culminate in a (gentle) crash-landing on the roof of a house belonging to three elderly sisters. The sisters help mend the balloon and tell the travelers about "the most perfect roller coaster you will ever see." That's all the enticement our quirky band of adventurers needs, but when they arrive, they see that the roller coaster needs repair; and so they set to work with the supplies Sebastian brought on his journey. Throughout, Stead's art is composed of all the things he needs, as pictures revel in the rich colors and textures of pastels, oils, and charcoal while exercising great restraint with uncluttered backgrounds and an absence of frames. The illustrations match the text's nostalgic feel, with a style at turns reminiscent of Brian Wildsmith and Bernard Waber, and yet this book is anything but derivative; it, like all Sebastian sees, is "something new." megan dowd lambert (c) Copyright 2014. 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
Sebastian, an Everychild from his plain, russet face and nondescript hair to his striped socks, creates a hot air balloon from his grandmother's quilt scraps and goes on a joyous, never-ending journey. When Sebastian decides that he needs to see the world beyond his tired street of identical houses, he gathers "all the things he would ever need" and boards his huge hot air balloon. "He charted a course. He checked the breeze. He cut the strings // and floated free." Those last three words float over a large white moon, which in turn is suspended in a double-page spread of vast, textured, blue-and-black sky. Against the moon is Sebastian in his colorful balloon, his faithful cardinal friend hovering nearby. This is the first of many frame-worthy pictures, as Sebastian and the bird form friendships with a winsome bear, a "very tall bird" andyes, Shakespeare enthusiaststhree weird (but charming) sisters, all of whom eventually crowd into the balloon and advance the journey. Expressive charcoal drawings colored with layers of pastels and oil paints add to the dreamlike quality of the tale. The sophisticated nature of the book requires readers to slow down and read the pictures as carefully as the textand both carry equal, impressive weight. Stead does not disappoint, giving readers another beautifully rendered picture book full of whimsy, heart and delight. (Picture book. 3-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
