Who Was That?

February 15, 2018
Following on Who Done It? (2015) and Who What Where? (2016), more visual tests of powers of observation and memory.In oblong cartoon scenes, some with die-cut holes, Tallec lines up a cast of children and animals. He then, after a page turn, asks which one had a yellow scarf or what color undies a figure was wearing, who in the new scene wasn't in the previous one, or another unpredictable question. Even at this elementary level (there are never more than seven figures in view, and usually fewer) grown-ups will have no advantage tackling these challenges, as the author changes the type of thing that must be noted and recalled each time. Thanks to lots of puzzled, pop-eyed expressions in the art and a certain amount of comical folderol--an instruction to tilt the volume to the right sends everyone on the next spread staggering in that direction, some clearly queasy--the game is as playful as it is tricky. Sometimes the details are just as much fun as as the game (if not more so): a lion wearing red rubber boots and a pink dog dangling by its teeth from the outstretched arm of an unperturbed bear will have children giggling. The human children are mostly pale, though one has brown skin and two others, (possibly) inexplicably, have green.An eye-opener for anyone who thinks that looking and seeing are the same thing. (answer key) (Picture book. 4-8)

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