Ring! Yo? - Hardcover

Chris Raschka

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0789426145 ISBN 13: 9780789426147

Publisher: DK Publishing, 2000

Synopsis

In a conversation on the telephone, the two friends from Yo! Yes? one black and one whitehave a disagreement and then make up.By the creator of Like Likes Like.

About this title

About the Author

Chris Raschka was born in Huntington, Pennsylvania on March 6th, 1959. He grew up speaking both English and German with his parents, his brother Paul and his sister Renate. Writer, artist and musician, Chris Raschka combines his three great passions to create original and daring picture books for young children.

Chris Raschka's picture books include Yo! Yes?, a Caldecott Honor Book in 1994, Charlie Parker Played Be Bop; Mysterious Thelonious, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book; Can't Sleep; The Blushful Hippopotamus; Elizabeth Imagined an Iceberg; Arlene Sardine; and a version of the Shaker hymn Simple Gifts. He has also illustrated the latest 'found' Margaret Wise Brown title Another Important Book, and Happy to Be Nappy a first children's book for bell hooks. His latest book for DK Ink is Like Likes Like which The New York Times describes as having "Exuberant illustrations [which] enlarge a simple but eloquent text".

Chris lives in New York City with his wife and their young son.

Reviews

Grade 1-4-The two boys whose friendship began in Raschka's Yo! Yes? (Orchard, 1993) are back, this time talking on the phone. Readers see only one youngster's remarks and facial expressions and are left to imagine the conversation at the other end of the line. At the end of the book, children are asked, "Hey! What just happened there? Was it this?" and are treated to a two-sided conversation that might have occurred-"Or was it something else?" The pastel-and-watercolor illustrations, all with lots of white background space and a word or two in cut-paper letters, wonderfully capture a wide range of emotions. The conversing boy's body language and facial expressions extend the story far beyond the brief text, "Um," "Why?" and "We will?" This imaginative view of the half conversations that are often overheard in daily life is sure to lead to lively classroom and storyhour discussions and give primary-grade teachers some good ideas for creative-writing projects.
Ginny Gustin, Sonoma County Library System, Santa Rosa, CA
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Proving once again that Raschka dances to a different drummer, this engaging picture book bounds off in a wholly original direction and features a return engagement by the two friends from Yo! Yes? Here, readers find themselves privy to half of a conversation as, Hollywood-style, they watch one boy respond to what is being said on the other end of the conversation. The rest is left to the imagination, although Raschka does step in at the end to offer one possible scenario. A master of minimalism, he packs a punch with just a few chosen images and words ("Hey! Uh huh. No. You?"). His artwork is all line and suggestion, and despite the static "stage set" on which the action takes place, his choreography more than compensates. With a quick scratch of pastels and a swipe of watercolor, the boy fidgets and grimaces, his face erupting in rage, collapsing in sadness and lighting up with joy as he chats with his friend ("What? You are? When?"). The clever conceit engages the audience; once readers understand the premise, there's a lot of latitude for creativity as they imagine exactly what is happening on the other end of the line. Ages 4-7. (Mar.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Two funky friends who first made readers scream YOW! over the joy of friendship in Yo! Yes? (1993) are back. Ring! Phone. Boy picks up. A friend! Yo? Hey! Uh huhjust the beginnings of the conversation overheard by readers in this bold Raschka innovation. With animated one- and two-word responses, the author/illustrator tells only one side of the story, that is, one end of a two-way phone conversation. Imaginative readers supply the other. Of course, the energetic illustrations offer plenty of ideas for what could be happening on the other end. The tension and drama of losing and finding a friend can be felt in the turned back of a friend whos been let down or the finality of a word such as, Never? or Ever? Raschka has his own Morse code of drawing, where a single dot of an eye or dash of hair has its particular mettle. A crooked, curved, or curly pastel line leaps with energy, conveying outrage, disappointment, or jump-for-joy gladness, all the mercurial feelings of friendship, with nothing more than a few simple strokes and a dash of color. Even the giant-size black letters carry expression. One suggestion of the unheard side of the conversation is offered at the end of the story, where readers are also invited to dream up their own friends-to-the-end happy outcome. (Picture book. 4-8)-- Copyright © 2000 Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Hooray! The two famous friends from Raschka's Caldecott Medal Honor Book Yo! Yes! (1993) return in another delightful monosyllabic, energy-charged story. This one begins with the ring of a phone and continues with the one-sided conversation that ensues. Children won't be able to resist using their imaginations to supply the other side. Raschka's art is as dynamic as ever: the full-page pictures of the boy on the phone are positively operatic in their expression and range of emotions. One moment the boy is ebullient, exclaiming "Hey!" as he recognizes his friend's voice. Then he's thoughtful, then startled ("What?"), defiant ("So What?"), and even despairing: "Never?" he asks, as he sinks lower and lower on the page, finally disappearing altogether. Raschka obligingly supplies one possible scenario to explain what's going on. "Was it this?" he asks, and then, in a three-page coda, suggests what the other side of the conversation might have been. But friendships--and phone conversations--are never cut and dried, as Raschka acknowledges in a tantalizing final line that invites alternative possibilities, rereadings, and reimaginings. Michael Cart

Edition details

• Publisher: DK Publishing
• Publication date: 2000
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0789426145
• ISBN 13: 9780789426147
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 40