The Yellow Balloon - Hardcover

Charlotte Dematons

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1932425012 ISBN 13: 9781932425017

Publisher: Lemniscaat USA, 2004

Synopsis

Writer and illustrator Charlotte Dematons brings the same enchanting look to this picture book that made her Worry Bear and Looking for Cinderella so successful. Lovely watercolors portray a great and diverse planet teeming with life at all times of day and night. People and animals of every shape, color, size, and costume are seen, busy at work and play. As the yellow balloon floats through many time periods - ancient, medieval, and contemporary - and realms both natural and supernatural, young readers can also look for the small blue car, the fakir on his flying carpet, and the scoundrel in prison garb. This story will fascinate young readers as they embark on a lively and fun-filled journey around the globe.

About this title

About the Author

Charlotte Dematons studied illustration and design at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy of Arts in Amsterdam. She beautifully illustrated the 200 fairy tales of Grimm in full color and was awarded the prestigious Silver Brush for this in 2006.

Reviews

PreSchool-Grade 3-This wordless picture book traces the journey of a rogue balloon as it is carried along from scene to scene. This format is similar to that of Jean Marzollo's "I Spy" books (Scholastic) and Martin Handford's "Where's Waldo" series (Candlewick), as children are challenged to find the tiny balloon, as well as other objects, in action-filled pictures. The aerial views are panoramic and the colors are breathtaking. Depicting many different parts of the world and many unique landscapes, the illustrations are imaginative and elaborate, and brimming with hundreds of captivating miniature details. At closer scrutiny, observers will see that Dematons combines images from various time periods: a truck is loaded with tomatoes while a short distance away, marauding warriors on horseback pillage a walled town. An escaped convict creeps from page to page, while a man wearing white robes and a turban travels on a magic carpet. With the artwork providing a springboard, opportunities for picture-inspired storytelling are unlimited. This stunning offering has broad appeal.
Corrina Austin, Locke's Public School, St. Thomas, Ontario, Canada
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

K-Gr. 3. Using the same approach as the author's Let's Go (2001), this oversize, wordless picture book, originally published in the Netherlands, is a combination of Where's Waldo and The Red Balloon. It opens as a blue SUV departs from a lone house, a yellow balloon floating in the sky above. After being swallowed up in a busy, colorful metropolis, the car proceeds on a worldwide tour, captured in double-spread vistas viewed from overhead. Each scene is crammed with myriad, tiny details that collapse time, placing the contemporary, the historical, and the fantastic side-by-side (an aircraft carrier on the ocean passes a sea serpent and wooden warships exchanging broadsides). The car and the yellow balloon provide the "narrative" thread, until their journey ends, right where it began. Don't expect a story. The appeal is the discovery of new and recurring images within each brightly colored milieu--a coven of witches in the forest, Batman in a corner, a fakir on a magic carpet, a fugitive in prison-striped garb. The art demands repeated viewings, and the more you look, the more you see. Julie Cummins
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Edition details

• Publisher: Lemniscaat USA
• Publication date: 2004
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1932425012
• ISBN 13: 9781932425017
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 32