Delivery - Hardcover

Suen, Anastasia

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0670884553 ISBN 13: 9780670884551

Publisher: Viking Juvenile, 1999

Synopsis

A rhyming look at a number of deliveries that take place in a day, from a morning newspaper delivery to people being transported by airplanes

About this title

Reviews

This picture book, about the many kinds of things that get delivered and how they are transported, takes readers on a disorienting ride. The driver of a truck marked "Daily News" stops for gas before dawn in the opening and closing images of the volume, acting as bookends to one day's deliveries. But the variety of items passing through the spreads makes the book feel disjointed. For instance, "Boxes and cans/ come in trucks and vans" shows a delivery man entering a grocery market, but for the next spread, "Unwrap it all/ for shelves on the wall" shows two women in Howe's apparel shop. Suen's spare text lacks the lyrical quality of her previous book, Window Music, also illustrated by Zahares (e.g., "Wheels and wings/ carry many things" and "Containers wait/ at number eight"). Zahares's strongly modeled, geometrically precise paintings set complementary colors together for high contrast, but muddy brownish tones predominate. The artwork seems constrained by the text; the clamor of buildings, cans, shirts or pipes detracts from the fresh interior perspectives and the wavy, willfully distorted landscapes that underpin the compositions. The artist creates a hint of a through line for the narrative: for example, a shopper carries a Howe's clothing bag in the food market; a truck from the florist shop in one spread is pictured traveling down a busy avenue in the next. But these visual connections do not completely compensate for what the text does not deliver. Ages 3-8. (Sept.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Accompanied by illustrations fittingly charged with movement, minimal couplets tell the story of how a day's-worth of goods are conveyed to their various destinations. After the stacking of newspapers, the news vans push off into the pre-dawn, while Suen (Baby Born, 1998, etc.) works other deliveries into the picture as the day progresses: canned goods, boxes, flowers. The text never exceeds 10 words per page, and is gauged to the youngest listener: ``On its way,/a new day,'' and ``Wheels and wings/carry many things.'' Larger distribution networks are developedhighway arteries, flyways, rail lines, and shipping lanesuntil Suen closes the circle with the piping of oil into the city. Zahares elegantly links every pastel-rich illustration to the next, back and forth through space and time and perspectives, until readers are once again at the morning gas pumpthe end of the line for the city's petroleum webwith the newspaper delivery man and the sun just cracking the horizon. Both text and art have a pleasing circularity that corrals the rhythms of the day so that they can be appreciated anew. (Picture book. 3-8) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Using a simple rhyming text and bold graphics, this book, by the author and illustrator who produced Window Music (1998), offers youngsters an introduction to the many kinds of deliveries that take place within a day. Beginning with the morning newspaper (transported by truck and bicycle), the book depicts deliveries of boxes, cans, and plants to groceries, department stores, and floral shops, and shows a myriad of delivery vehicles, including taxis, airplanes, trains, boats, and even pipelines. The pipes connect to tanks, which, in turn, carry the gasoline used to fuel the trucks that deliver the morning news. The text is succinct enough for even fidgety toddlers, but it will probably be the vivid artwork that commands the most attention. Each double-page spread is a visual delight, complete with its own back story, and Zahares' effective use of simple lines ensures that the pages never appear cluttered. A good choice for preschool story hours or for primary units on communities or transportation. Kay Weisman

PreSchool-Grade 2-A brief look at commerce and transportation. Two lines of rhyming text per page explain how trucks, planes, and trains carry and distribute flowers, fuel, food, etc. Pipelines deliver oil, and freighters transport consumer goods. Suen uses a literary frame of 24 hours in the life of a community, from its early morning newspaper shipment to its home delivery again the next day. This book has a nice, understated tone. The text doesn't overwhelm Zahares's stylized artwork. Bold and angular, the illustrations have an almost impressionistic feel. Books such as Claire Llewellyn's Trucks (Watts, 1995), Darlene Stille's Trucks (Children's, 1997), and Gail Gibbons's Flying (Holiday, 1986; o.p.), have a narrower focus, but Suen's title succeeds at delivering the big picture.
Roxanne Burg, Thousand Oaks Library, CA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Viking Juvenile
• Publication date: 1999
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0670884553
• ISBN 13: 9780670884551
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Zahares Wade
• Number of pages: 32