Looking Down

by Steve Jenkins, Steve Jenkins (Illustrator)

Overview

In this wordless picture book, readers first see Earth as the astronauts do, as a small ball in the black universe. As the point of view moves gradually closer, we can see continents and oceans, then the East Coast of the United States, then a town (an imaginary one), until, finally, we are looking through a boy's magnifying glass at a ladybug. In his remarkable and detailed cut-paper illustrations, the artist takes us on an amazing journey from outer space to a young boy's front yard.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780618310982
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	05/19/2003
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	671,048
Product dimensions:	9.75(w) x 9.75(h) x (d)
Age Range:	4 - 7 Years

About the Author

Steve Jenkins wrote and illustrated many nonfiction picture books for young readers, including the Caldecott Honor Book What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? His books have been called stunning, eye-popping, inventive, gorgeous, masterful, extraordinary, playful, irresistible, compelling, engaging, accessible, glorious, and informative.

Steve Jenkins wrote and illustrated many nonfiction picture books for young readers, including the Caldecott Honor Book What Do You Do with a Tail Like This? His books have been called stunning, eye-popping, inventive, gorgeous, masterful, extraordinary, playful, irresistible, compelling, engaging, accessible, glorious, and informative.

Editorial Reviews

"Beautiful, engaging, and full of possibilities for discussion, the book will be a welcome addition to the collections of young science enthusiasts." Horn Book

"Beautiful, engaging, and full of possibilities for discussion, the book will be a welcome addition to the collections of young science enthusiasts." Horn Book Guide —

From the Publisher

"Beginning with an astronaut's-eye view of the Earth, cut-paper collage illustrations of unusual detail gradually decreases the scope to a town, a child on a sidewalk-and a surprising conclusion," noted PW. Ages 4-8. (May) Copyright 2003 Reed Business Information.

Publishers Weekly

PreS-Gr 3-The Earth floats in space, a small blue marble, growing with each turn of the page. The North American continent swells until the streets of a (fictional) coastal town become visible, then a particular neighborhood; a dot on the sidewalk becomes a boy with a magnifying glass, viewing-what? A ladybug fills the last page. Using neat, sharp-edged paper collages and pure, simple colors, Jenkins convincingly conveys, better than most aerial photography, both a sense of height and an almost vertiginous feeling of movement in this wordless fall. Books with expanding rather than contracting scales, such as Istvan Banyai's Zoom (Viking, 1995) or the Hirsts' My Place in Space (Orchard, 1990) end on more cosmic notes, but younger readers will find this an exciting, eye-opening slide.-John Peters, New York Public Library

School Library Journal