From School Library Journal reS-Gr 2-A young boy's walk to the corner grocery store across his backyard becomes a creative adventure. As he runs through an imaginary forest, he passes Little Red Riding Hood, a dragon, and a sleeping giant. Climbing over rocks, the boy finds a boat and rows out to sea where he floats atop whales and sneaks by a pirate ship. Stealthily passing the pirates' den, he arrives safely at the store, buys his apples, and returns home via the sidewalk. Illustrations are colorful spreads that are viewed from above. As the child enters the forest and climbs over rocks to the sea, the view becomes a close-up. Visual perspective is awkwardly off balance as readers follow the adventurer through his journey. Young children will enjoy detecting the dangers that the boy evades, although most are pointed out in spare, uninspired text.Alice Casey Smith, Sayreville Public Schools, Parlin, NJCopyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc. Read more From Booklist Ages 5-8. Going to the store on a simple errand becomes an adventure, for narrator and viewer both, in this visual imagination stretcher from the author of Looking For Cinderella (1996). Each scene offers a bird's-eye view of streets, houses, and yards that seem ordinary at first glance but where a leafy patch conceals a dragon or a giant, a child clad in red meets a certain wolf, and a pond becomes an ocean, with shipwrecks, mermaids, and a majestic whale visible below the glassy surface. Further marvels await discovery by the sharp of eye--the graffiti that mysteriously appears on a newly painted house, the bearded dwarves trooping into a certain thatched cottage. Children who enjoy following pathways in pictures and carefully examining odd corners for small details--in other words, fans of Arthur Geisert's etchings and Joan Steiner's assemblages--will pore over these uncluttered views. The minimal text ends with a suggestion: "How do we get back? Maybe we should take the sidewalk?" No way! John PetersCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved Read more
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