Look! The Ultimate Spot the Difference Book

Invites the reader to find the differences between pictures that are similar but not identical

Grade 3-5-- A complex exotica of animal life presented as a wordless concept book. Facing pages show similar bustling scenes demonstrating both an abstract concept and a particular habitat ("Twilight sound/ The mountain scrub of Australasia"; "Under the eagle's eye/ The foothills of the Rocky Mountains"). Readers are asked to notice 12 "vital differences" in the two pictures, and the answers are revealed in a small coded guide that names and briefly describes the animals. Each of the illustrated pages features a center panel surrounded by smaller border segments; individually these have a rich appearance, but placed in pairs they are overwhelming in their busyness. Wilson realistically depicts the animals, but an unpleasing amount of orange in her palette gives a garish quality to many of her pictures. An overabundance of imagery and esoteric ideas are attempted, and many children will need assistance to get the hang of the guessing game. --Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Facing pages of each spread contain views of nature that, at first glance, appear to be identical. Closer examination reveals that in fact a number of subtle changes--12 in each pairing--have occurred from one illustration to the other. A wax plant flowers, a python wraps around its prey, a chameleon changes color--all within exotic scenes whose venues range from tropical rain forest to northern tundra to deepest ocean. Wilson's paintings are highly realistic, lush in color and composition, and painstaking in detail. Reminiscent of Graeme Base's meticulous depictions of animals and animal characters, they demand--and repay--an intensity of viewing akin to that required by Base's The Eleventh Hour. The differences in each picture are indicated at the end of the book, where the appended nature notes contain a wealth of information about the natural world. Ages 6-up.
Copyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.