Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
A pale-skinned boy and his dog battle Sunday doldrums with an imagined journey in this meditation on adventure. With domestic distractions occupying family, the protagonist and pup venture forth alone. As their expedition takes them "from the freezing cold of ice caps... to the baking heat of lava flows," each location bears resemblance to household spaces. Tolentino pairs venturing lines with art that embraces matte coloring and a retro etched look, creating immersive spreads that amplify the wonder of the pair's round-the-world jaunt with a hidden-pictures effect. A line of camels traverses a sand dune that, at second glance, takes on the contours of a person's face, and a pirate ship's flag mirrors the shape of laundry hung to dry. When the explorers return home, accounts of their daring provoke a profound realization about the child's boundless future in "the wild unknown." Background characters are portrayed with various skin tones. Ages 3--7. (Jan.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2--In this stunning book, a child's boredom at the thought of another Sunday spent with his parents and grandparents, where every week is the same, turns into a wildly imaginative adventure. Martin decides that on this day he's going to travel the world and bring the dog. Scenes of his family's quotidian home life shift into those of the wide world that he travels in his mind, from the polar ice caps to fiercely stormy seas. Upon closer inspection, readers will realize that the picturesque landscapes he's traveling are fantastical versions of ordinary objects in the home: an unbaked cake becomes a volcano spewing lava, and the tattoo on his father's arm comes to life as a fearsome dragon. The book hinges on the illustrations; like the best work of Anthony Browne, Chris Van Allsburg, and David Macaulay, Tolentino's artwork is truly mesmerizing: deep, lush, detailed and realistic. Each page is its own rich world, filled with color and movement and an intense sense of place. Readers can study the pictures and make a new connection every time: is that landscape composed of items from the family's refrigerator? And is that pirate ship's sail a pair of underwear glimpsed earlier? The creator of this book, like the pair of explorers at its center, brings magic into an otherwise sleepy Sunday. VERDICT A breathtaking trip through one boy's imagination, this beautiful picture book is highly recommended for school and public libraries.--Kate Newcombe
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
A desire to break a familiar routine leads a young boy to exciting new worlds. Every Sunday, Martin, his parents, and his dog, Maize, go to his grandparents' house. Every visit is the same; bored one day, Martin decides to "[step] out into the unknown." In detailed, action-packed double-page spreads in muted colors, Martin and Maize trek across several landscapes, from the "freezing cold of ice caps" to the "baking heat of lava flows." Their epic adventures turn out to be a rousing game of make-believe; exhausted after a day of play, Martin eagerly anticipates filling his family members in on all his exploits. Eagle-eyed readers will realize that this is an imaginative journey, with several objects from around the house, seen in earlier spreads, ingeniously included in Martin's daydreams. His mother's Bundt cake becomes a volcano leaving hot lava trails, while the "arid desert" is his grandpa's sleeping face. Cross-hatching and detailed shading give the tale a charmingly retro feel. Originally published in Brazil and translated into English, this tale uses clever wordplay in conjunction with the art to further call back to the previously seen items (at one point, we're told that the boy and the canine are "within an arm's length of sacred creatures"--a reference to Martin's father's dragon tattoo sleeve). Readers will eagerly return again and again to get lost in Tolentino's sumptuous landscapes. Martin and his family are light-skinned. Imaginative play has never been this exciting.(Picture book. 4-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
