The Who's Who of Grown-Ups: Jobs, Hobbies and the Tools It Takes

by Owen Davey, gestalten (Editor), Owen Davey (Illustrator)

Overview

Have you ever dreamed of being a secret agent or a gardener, soccer player or singer, astronaut or pirate? Do you know what clothes they wear and what equipment they always carry with them? All these people and many more are in The Who’s Who of Grown-Ups just waiting to be discovered. Bold illustrations show in detail the professions, hobbies, and pastimes that keep grown-ups busy throughout the day.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783899551495
Publisher:	Gestalten
Publication date:	10/13/2020
Pages:	96
Product dimensions:	9.50(w) x 13.00(h) x (d)
Age Range:	4 - 9 Years

About the Author

Owen Davey is an award-winning illustrator known for several picture books and he is the lead illustrator on the multi-award winning app Two Dots. He won Best of Show and two Silver Awards in the 3x3 Professional Show 2019. He has worked with clients including Google, Facebook, Sony, Lego and National Geographic.

Editorial Reviews

2020-07-14
Learn (some of) the tools of (some of) the trade(s).

Bold posterlike illustrations work in tandem across each oversized double-page spread to define a selection of tools used by a variety of professions and hobbies, both real and fantastical. The verso page highlights from three to eight items commonly used by each profession while the recto page presents a practitioner accoutered with the depicted items and accessories. The people represent a range of skin tones, ages, and sizes, and the jobs and hobbies are equally diverse, ranging from astronaut to superhero. The professions are not arranged in any apparent order, which makes each page turn a bit of a surprise. Equally surprising are the tools selected for each profession: The skater’s (actually a skateboarder, a light-skinned woman) do not include a helmet but do include other safety gear while the fisherman (a White, bearded old salt) is depicted with no actual tools at all. It certainly is visually interesting, but it’s disappointingly reliant on stereotype and will probably do little to encourage creative thought. Although there is gender and racial diversity on display, Davey disrupts too few preconceived roles: The pilot looks like a White man, as do the scientist and the conductor; the boxer is a hulking Black man. The only Black character approaching a STEM trade is the “nerd” hunched over a laptop and carrying a bag of comic books.

More style than substance. (Informational picture book. 6-10)

Kirkus Reviews