Say Hello - Softcover

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1406313599 ISBN 13: 9781406313598

Publisher: Walker Childrens Paperbacks, 2008

Synopsis

A strikingly illustrated picture book with a strong anti-bullying message, from a father-and-son team.

Based on the author''s childhood experience, Say Hello tells the poignant story of a boy who is left out and all alone, while other children play happily together. Michael Foreman''s beautifully spare illustrations perfectly complement the story''s underlying message: "When someone''s feeling left out, low, it doesn''t take much to say … ''Hello!''"

About this title

About the Author

Jack Foreman originally wrote this poem, based on a real childhood experience, when he was ten years old. It wasn't until many years later that he showed it to his father, and it became the picture book, Say Hello. Jack is currently studying art history at Nottingham University. Michael Foreman is one of the world's leading creators of children's books. Working alone on popular titles such as Dinosaurs and All That Rubbish, War Boy and bestselling collections of nursery and playtime rhymes, he also illustrates the work of other authors as diverse as Terry Jones and Michael Morpurgo, Dickens, Shakespeare and Wilde. Michael lives in London.

From Booklist

*Starred Review* A lonely dog wanders though a town, stops to gaze sadly at a boy and his cat, and investigates a tipped-over garbage can. When he comes upon a crowd of children playing with a ball, he approaches them eagerly and makes plenty of new friends. Outside the group, a lonely boy stops to watch them play. Suddenly, the dog approaches and draws him into the group. The text concludes, “When someone’s feeling left out, low, / it doesn’t take much to say . . . Hello!” This forthright statement of the book’s message will endear the book to many preschool teachers, but even better is the sensitivity of its delivery. Both words and pictures are spare and clean. Using repetition of phrases effectively, the text is so brief that only one or two words appear on many of the double-page spreads. The charcoal, colored-pencil, and pastel artwork makes scant use of color, sensitive use of line, and ample use of white space, which visually isolates the lonely characters. A blue horizontal line high on the page sometimes represents the horizon and sometimes suggests a background of trees, tall buildings, or clouds. This beautifully designed offering will resonate with its audience; it’s short and simple enough for beginning readers as well. Preschool-Grade 1. --Carolyn Phelan

Edition details

• Publisher: Walker Childrens Paperbacks
• Publication date: 2008
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1406313599
• ISBN 13: 9781406313598
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 40