The Hello, Goodbye Window - Hardcover

Juster, Norton

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786809140 ISBN 13: 9780786809141

Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers, 2005

Synopsis

A Caldecott Medal Winner

From the acclaimed author of the classic book The Phantom Tollbooth comes a love song to that special relationship between grandparents and grandchild, illustrated by a multi-Caldecott recipient.

The kitchen window at Nanna and Poppy's house is, for one little girl, a magic gateway. Everything important happens near it, through it, or beyond it. The world for this little girl will soon grow larger and more complex, but never more enchanting or deeply felt. Her story is both a voyage of discovery and a celebration of the commonplace wonders that define childhood, expressed as a joyful fusion of text with evocative and exuberant art that garnered the highest honor in children's book illustration in 2006.

 

 

About this title

About the Author

Norton Juster was the author of a number of children's books, including the contemporary classic The Phantom Tollbooth, illustrated by Jules Feiffer, as well as the sequel to The Hello, Goodbye Window and also illustrated by Chris Raschka, Sourpuss and Sweetie Pie. Formerly an architect by trade, he lived in Amherst, Massachusetts.

Chris Raschka is the Caldecott Award-winning illustrator of The Hello, Goodbye Window and A Ball for Daisy. He also received a Caldecott Honor for Yo! Yes? and has written and illustrated numerous books for children, including several titles by bell hooks: Happy to Be Nappy, Skin Again, and Be Boy Buzz. A 2012 nominee for the Hans Christian Andersen Award, he lives in New York City.

Reviews

Starred Review. PreSchool-Grade 1–The window in Nanna and Poppy's kitchen is no ordinary window–it is the place where love and magic happens. It's where the girl and her doting grandparents watch stars, play games, and, most importantly, say hello and goodbye. The first-person text is both simple and sophisticated, conjuring a perfectly child-centered world. Sentences such as "When I get tired I come in and take my nap and nothing happens until I get up" typify the girl's happy, imaginative world. While the language is bouncy and fun, it is the visual interpretation of this sweet story that sings. Using a bright rainbow palette of saturated color, Raschka's impressionistic, mixed-media illustrations portray a loving, mixed-race family. The artwork is at once lively and energetic, without crowding the story or the words on the page; the simple lines and squiggles of color suggest a child's own drawings, but this is the art of a masterful hand. Perfect for lap-sharing, this book will find favor with children and adults alike.–Angela J. Reynolds, Washington County Cooperative Library Services, Hillsboro, OR

*Starred Review* PreS-Gr. 2. Two well-known names come together in a book that speaks to the real lives of children and their experiences. The young narrator visits her grandparents, Nanna and Poppy, in their big house. They explore Nanna's garden, and Poppy plays his harmonica. The narrator rides her bike and takes a nap, "and nothing happens till I get up." Looking out the picture window, the "hello, goodbye window," she sees the pizza guy, and, more fancifully, a dinosaur. She also spots her parents coming to pick her up. The curly-haired girl is happy to see them, but sad because it means the end of the visit. The window imagery is less important than the title would make it seem. More intrinsic is Juster's honest portrayal of a child's perceptions (a striped cat in the yard is a tiger) and emotions (being happy and sad at the same time "just happens that way sometimes"). Raschka's swirling lines, swaths, and dabs of fruity colors seem especially vibrant, particularly in the double-page spreads, which have ample room to capture both the tender moments between members of the interracial family and the exuberance of spending time in the pulsating outdoors, all flowers, grass, and sky. Ilene Cooper
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Edition details

• Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
• Publication date: 2005
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0786809140
• ISBN 13: 9780786809141
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Raschka Chris
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 32