Listen, Listen

by Phillis Gershator, Alison Jay (Illustrator)

Overview

★ "This jewel of a book will draw children back again and again" — Booklist, starred review

Introduce young readers to the sights and sounds of the year - from summer's sizzling sun to winter's crackling snow. Featuring breathtaking illustrations by internationally renowned illustrator, Alison Jay, this book will open your child's eyes and ears to the world around them!

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781846862014
Publisher:	Barefoot Books
Publication date:	09/01/2008
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	276,027
Product dimensions:	8.60(w) x 8.60(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	3 Months to 4 Years

About the Author

Phillis Gershator has written more than twenty-five books for children. She has worked as a children's librarian and enjoys cooking, gardening, and especially reading. Phillis lives in the US Virgin Islands with her husband and frequent co-author, David.

A graduate in illustration from the London College of Printing, Alison Jay has been illustrating children's books for ten years. To create her unique style, she uses alkyd oil paint on paper with a crackling varnish, which gives her illustrations an antique, nostalgic quality. Alison lives and works in London, England.

Editorial Reviews

★ "This jewel of a book will draw children back again and again" — Booklist, starred review

"This book celebrates all the sights and sounds of the seasons. It is a delightful concoction, mixing a noisy rhythmic text with beautifully detailed illustrations" — Carousel

From the Publisher

Although Gershator (Kallaloo!) and Jay (1 2 3: A Child's First Counting Book; reviewed Sept. 3) aren't entirely in sync in this sound-driven journey through the seasons, it hardly matters, as Jay's magical and occasionally eerie crackle-glaze oil paintings furnish a visual feast. The text is built around a series of rhyming, gentle directives to attune one's ears: "Listen, listen... summer's gone. Good-bye insects, autumn's come.... Honk, honk, geese call. / Swish, swish, leaves fall." But while Jay picks up on some of Gershator's visual cues, her pictures are more about fantastic versions of small-town life: geese flying overhead exude a Hitchcockian menace, and two cats toasting their paws before a winter's fire look so plump and sated that one wonders if maybe dinner consisted of their human owners. It sounds rather bizarre, but the richness and detail of Jay's universe will utterly captivate children. Ultimately, the real journey in this book is less about seasons and sounds than where Jay's imagination takes her and her audience. Ages 4-9. (Sept.)

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Publishers Weekly

PreS-Gr 3 In this ode to the seasons, the sights and sounds of a picturesque country village are artfully evoked. Under the summer sun, "Leaves rustle, hammocks sway. Splish, splash, children play." In autumn, "Pumpkins ripen, quick, quick. Apples, corn-pick, pick." During winter, "Crunch, crunch, boots clomp. Grown-ups shovel, children romp./Skaters spin, skiers glide. Zip, zoom, slip, slide." When spring arrives, "Pop, pop, bulbs sprout. Leaves grow, flowers shout." Jay's crackled-varnish paintings have a nostalgic, folk-art quality. The rhyming, onomatopoeic text wraps around the busy scenes, and the words and art together provide a smooth transition between the seasons: "summer's gone" is illustrated with a swarm of insects buzzing off the page. An appended "can you see" game encourages close examination of the changing landscapes. Children will be inspired to "listen, listen" in their own environments.-Linda Ludke, London Public Library, Ontario, Canada

School Library Journal