What Do You Want? - Hardcover

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0888996365 ISBN 13: 9780888996367

Publisher: Groundwood Books, 2006

Synopsis

What Do You Want? blends simple text and charming illustrations by Sweden’s renowned Lars Klinting. “The rooster wants . . . its hen. The bee wants . . . its flower. The little brother wants . . . his band-aid.” Turning from page to page has baby and parent wondering what comes next, each time finding an answer that is a tiny bit surprising but also very satisfying. Delightful in its simplicity and ideal for bedtime reading, What Do You Want? showcases the author’s classic picture book style.

About this title

Reviews

PreS-This diminutive book is mesmerizing in its calm simplicity. Cream-colored pages provide the backdrop to clear, precise color illustrations that are executed with artistic aplomb. Each page holds a single image-a bird in flight, an ice-cream cone, a pair of love-struck chickens. This isn't a story; rather, it's a collection of statements defining the wants of both animate and inanimate objects. The format is the same throughout, effectively using the turn of the page to provide the suspense so that, The bumblebee wants-¦its flower, The hen wants-¦her chick, The chair wants-¦its table. No culminating frame brings these disparate objects together; the book simply ends, as many do, with a sleeping child: The pillow wants-¦its cheek. This title works both as a way of identifying commonly encountered items as well as a way for beginning readers to make connections between a part and what makes that part feel whole-be it the hat on the little old man's head or the shoe on a foot. A little bit of sweet magic is at work here.-Martha Topol, Traverse Area District Library, Traverse City, MI
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PreS. Each right-hand page of this little picture book begins with a phrase such as, "The bumblebee wants . . . " Turn the page, and the rest is revealed: "its flower." On the right-hand side of that spread, a picture of a bawling toddler illustrates the beginning of a new sentence, "Little brother wants . . . " The following page completes the thought with "his band-aid." This simple pattern repeats throughout the book, forming a guessing game that children will find satisfying, though perhaps a little puzzling the first time through. Who would guess that "a pillow wants its cheek"? But after a couple of readings, young children will enjoy either saying the right answers or making up new ones. The unassuming yet appealing illustrations, pencil drawings with watercolor washes, are notable for their simplicity, clarity, and generous use of white space. Translated from the Swedish, this picture book will easily find an audience here. Carolyn Phelan
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Groundwood Books
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0888996365
• ISBN 13: 9780888996367
• Binding: Hardcover
• Illustrator: Klinting Lars
• Number of pages: 36