Anything Is Possible

June 10, 2013
A dreamer of a sheep wants to build a flying machine to get a bird’s-eye view of the world. “They can choose how they look at things: from far away, from up close, or from somewhere in between,” she thinks. Her friend, a wolf, is skeptical (“You spend too much time watching the birds in the sky”), but he can’t resist the sheep’s can-do attitude, even after two initial prototypes fail in major ways. Trevisan pictures their collaboration in spare, editorial-style collaged images on crisp white space; much of the fun comes from seeing the contrast between the streamlined wolf and sheep and other visual elements made from elaborately decorated paper (the long tail of their first contraption is densely scribbled with mathematical equations). Even the cropping of the images is witty and stylish: one spread conveys a crash by showing bits of the two passengers, a wheel, and a wing falling beyond the pages’ margins. Unfortunately, the minimal text is literal and leaden, so while the message about persistence comes through, readers get little insight into the nature of this improbable friendship. Ages 4–7.

August 1, 2013

PreS-Gr 2-This short, slight tale promotes the concepts of teamwork and perseverance. When Sheep sees a flock of birds flying overhead, she wishes she could join them. She gets an idea, runs to see Wolf, and asks him to work with her on building a flying machine. He's skeptical at first, but eventually Sheep prevails. Their first design has fabric wings that rip mid flight, sending them tumbling to the ground. They try balloons, but the birds pop them. Sheep's last idea has her fashioning a dragon's head, while Wolf cuts out a tail. This time the plan works, and off they fly together. The mixed-media illustrations are abstract and creative; they use paper cutouts, ink, and pencil. Unfortunately, there is not much of a plot here. In addition, Sheep and Wolf's final design presumably works because the cutout dragon scares away the birds, but that is not totally clear from the pictures.-Roxanne Burg, Orange County Public Library, CA

Copyright 2013 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2013
A ruminating ruminant puts a wolf to work in service of flight. A sheep longs to be able to look at things as the birds do, "from far away, from up close, or from somewhere in between," so she engages a wolf friend to help build a flying machine. Skeptical at first, he finally agrees to work on the project. Their first flight fails when the gorgeous wings of the flying machine designed by the wolf prove too fragile. Next, the sheep attaches helium balloons, but birds dive in and pop the balloons. She devises a clever solution, and together, she and the wolf take flight. Belloni's spare and simple story, translated from the Italian, offers just enough framework for the illustrations, and it has a solemn syntax that allows the humor of the sheep's ambition to come through. The figures of both sheep and wolf are slightly abstract and somewhat angular, set against a white background--they call to mind the woodland creatures in Jon Klassen's I Want My Hat Back (2011). Sophisticated yet nicely in balance with the brief text, Trevisan's art includes patterns that suggest fabric collage, along with blocks of mathematical notation used as decoration on the endpapers and in the sweep of the hill from which the pair takes off. Lovely bookmaking nicely complements this charming, light-as-a-feather tale of friendship and successful dreaming. (Picture book. 2-6)

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August 1, 2013
Preschool-G Contemplative Sheep is envious of birds flying overhead: How lucky they are! They can choose how they look at things: from far away, from up close, or from somewhere in between. Sheep comes up with an ideato build a flying machineand takes it to practical, mathematically inclined Wolf. Although dubious at first, Wolf quickly gets onboard, working his ruler and protractor into a frenzy. Once they've got a plan (mathematical scribbles all over the page) and follow it, they're off and up . . . . and then back down, limbs akimbo. Not to be deterred, they try again and again, until, in a contraption resembling a dragon, they ultimately soar. While the simple text doesn't explain why natural enemies Wolf and Sheep are friends or how they get a machine to fly, the illustrations make up for any holes. Trevisan's collages are set on crisp white pages, and with interesting perspectives and art bleeding off the pages, this is a visually beautiful story anchored by two endearing characters. A whimsical offering of perseverance and friendship from an Italian author and illustrator.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2013, American Library Association.)