Review by Publisher's Weekly Review
Sterer (If You Make a Call on a Banana Phone) and Henderson (Evidence!) craft a haunting wordless picture book in which the natural world leads a stand for itself. Softly rendered illustrations shift hazily between a sepia-toned reality and blue-tinted dreamlike sequences. Surrounded by environmental devastation--belching smokestacks, deforested land--a pale-skinned young human protagonist encounters a wolf outside their family home. After the youth falls asleep, the paneled art shifts to a deep blue, and the wolf leads the child to an enormous canid composite made of regular-size wolves. The next day, the seeming boundary between dream and reality further blurs; as the previously distinct palettes meld, all manner of creatures grow colossal against various landscapes. In images that recall the work of David Wiesner, insects and fish outsize vehicles, a massive reptile routs loggers, and colossal birds fly over city streets. The child soon rallies peers to join the cause, and as the gargantuan animals look on behind them, the children march into the formation of a determined human figure, hands on hips. Both introspective and urgent, it's a story pulsing with empowerment that celebrates collective strength. Ages 4--8. (Feb.)
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Review by School Library Journal Review
Gr 1--5--A girl is called to action after a powerful encounter with nature. The opening illustrations feature belching factories filling the pages with smoke that transforms on the next spread to the clouds of a dream. Traveling home, a young girl looks out the car window to see a blighted landscape due to humankind's environmental transgressions, from littering to waste-spewing factories. After she returns to her wooded home, she has an encounter with a wolf that leads to a magical experience with animals of all sorts who join to speak out en masse for the protection of their habitats. Their actions inspire the girl to gather other concerned humans into a communal force that demands, along with the animals, that we do better for the sake of us all. The details in the illustrations, done in graphite with digital painting, capture the devastation of the natural world due to factories, deforestation, and industrial farming, juxtaposing it with the power and majesty of nature. The dream blends with reality in such a way that readers will long be discussing where one stops and the other begins. More importantly, children will have witnessed the call to act for the survival of our planet. VERDICT A rallying cry for young people to demand environmental protection with detailed magical illustrations through which the message is powerfully embedded.
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Review by Kirkus Book Review
Nature responds dramatically to the destruction wrought by humanity. While sitting in a car headed to a home in the woods, a pale-skinned, dark-haired child gazes upon an industrial landscape. The youngster's view of chugging factories, overflowing dumpsters, landfills, and wastewater captures humanity's sphere of influence. Arriving home, the child reflects and ponders a solution. By the light of the moon, our protagonist watches a wolf howl for its kin. The sound brings what appears to be simply a cloud formation, then stars, then the eyes of a whirlwind of wolves. This magical swarm forms one immense wolf, who bends to acknowledge the watching child. Though it's a dreamy experience, when morning comes, the world begins to change. Giant animals appear everywhere: An ant flies beside an airplane, an iguana halts deforestation, and a polar bear dwarfs an ocean oil rig. While some humans look on in confusion, a group of children, led by the strong-minded protagonist, form the outline of a massive person to stand beside the beasts. This wordless, intense narrative celebrates nature's grandeur, ubiquity, and worth by having animals literally loom large. In good company with Shaun Tan's and Guojing's visually rich, affectingly allegorical work, this is a resonant reminder to resist ecological encroachment and stand up for nature. A simple message of environmental protection, skillfully conveyed.(Picture book. 5-10) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
