Skunk on a String - Hardcover

Lam, Thao

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 177147131X ISBN 13: 9781771471312

Publisher: Owlkids, 2016

Synopsis

The highly anticipated wordless picture book from debut author and collage artist Thao Lam

"Wordless... colorful... hilarious." Kirkus, STARRED REVIEW

In Skunk on a String, we meet a skunk who has been tied to the tail of a balloon. Try as he might, the persistent critter can’t get anyone to untie him. In this wordless story, he is shooed and swatted through a bustling parade, past the windowpanes of the city’s apartment buildings with their diverse, busy inhabitants, then up to the construction cranes high above the city. He floats through the zoo, into traffic, under water, and eventually lands atop a Ferris wheel. When he finally unties himself, the skunk misses the aerial life ― so he comes up with an inspired way to fly again.

Paper collage art in whimsical colors and patterns ― polka dots, gingham, and florals ―creates a playful dynamic and brilliantly captures details of urban life, from the legs of a crowd to window boxes, spilled ice cream, and clothing flapping on clotheslines. This heartwarming, highly visual adventure takes a new vantage point on the ordinary and shows the skunk expanding his horizons, overcoming adversity, and, eventually, helping himself.

About this title

About the Author

THAO LAM is the critically acclaimed author/illustrator of THAO, Wallpaper, My Cat Looks Like My Dad, Skunk on a String, and The Paper Boat, named a best book of 2020 by Kirkus, Booklist, School Library Journal, the Globe and Mail, CBC, and others . She studied illustration at Sheridan College and has an insatiable love of colored and textured papers, which she uses to create her exuberant collages. She draws inspiration from the stories she hears, from the beauty in everyday things, and from the work of the many illustrators she admires. She lives in Toronto, Ontario.

Reviews

PreS-Gr 2-Skunk finds himself in an airborne adventure in this wordless picture book. The opening scenes, done in cut-paper collage, introduce viewers to about a dozen children marching in a large balloon parade. Somehow, Skunk has gotten entangled in a smaller red balloon, and up, up, up he floats. He floats past an apartment building where a nice lady hanging her laundry throws him a pair of boxer shorts to hang onto. Alas, he cannot reach them, and he floats even higher and away to a construction site where a man on a beam offers up his sandwich to grab and hold. That doesn't work, either, and soon Skunk is floating past the zoo and all the animals inside. He tries to grab Elephant's trunk, but one sneeze blows Skunk into the bed of a garbage truck. He has an unsuccessful landing there as well and ends up in the river. Skunk splashes underwater for a moment, then up again he floats over the desert and back to the city, where he falls into one of the seats on a Ferris wheel. Balloonless at last, and safe on the ground, he spies a balloon vendor. The adventure was just too much fun, apparently, for Skunk chases away all the customers, grabs the balloons, and floats off for some more fun. The illustrations are colorful and humorous and enhanced with ink. VERDICT Children will enjoy following Skunk as he travels far and wide in this creative and silly story. Perfect for small groups or individual sharing.-Roxanne Burg, Orange County Public Library, CAα(c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

Edition details

• Publisher: Owlkids
• Publication date: 2016
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 177147131X
• ISBN 13: 9781771471312
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 40