Window

In this interactive, one-of-a-kind wordless picture book, extraordinary things are happening behind the windows of the city.

A young girl is walking home from school in a big city. As she gazes up at window after window in the buildings on her route — each one a different shape and size — she imagines what might be going on behind them. By opening the gatefold, readers will come upon the most fantastical scenes. An indoor jungle. A whale in a bathtub. Vampires playing badminton. The girl’s imagination knows no bounds. Until, behind the very last window, we find the girl back home in her own room, where the toys surrounding her look strangely familiar.

This highly original wordless picture book by Marion Arbona is a celebration of curiosity and imagination that is sure to inspire a sense of wonder in readers of all ages. There are thirteen windows to open in all, and each scene is intricately drawn in black and white and packed with level upon level of extraordinary details to explore: a gathering of gnomes, a deep-sea diver among glowing underwater creatures, a collection of masks, cars that drive up the walls. In a clever touch, each window contains a clue to what’s behind it — for example, a plant on the ledge of the window that opens to the jungle, and a window shaped like a porthole that reveals the whale in a bathtub. With so much going on, this book will entice even the youngest children to pore over the pages for close reading, promoting observation skills and visual literacy.

Marion Arbona is the award-winning illustrator of numerous children's books. She lives in Montreal, Quebec.