Not a Stick

Starred review from December 24, 2007
Where Portis's Not a Box
featured a plain brown wrapper, this winning sequel proffers a faux wood-grain cover. And where the earlier title featured a deceptively boxlike, hollow rectangle (which an inventive rabbit treated as a rocket or a race car), this follow-up introduces a little pig holding a long, forked object. An unenlightened voice offstage suggests, “Hey, be careful with that stick.” The pig corrects the false impression (“It's not a stick”) and demonstrates the item's many uses. Portis traces pig and plaything in a heavy black line on negative space, then superimposes jaunty blue line drawings that act as overlays to reveal the pig's imaginings. The pig stands astride the stick, and a rearing horse shape appears. The pig holds the stick at its midpoint and it becomes a paintbrush, aiming toward Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night
. Where the offstage warnings appear in white italics on a gray ground, implying a drab rejection of fantasy (“Watch where you point that stick”), the pig's statements are printed against a deep and dreamy blue. Portis repeats her previous formula down to the conclusion, where the pig calls the DIY toy “my Not-a-Stick!,” once again appealing to those who think outside the box. Ages up to 6.

January 1, 2008
PreS-Gr 1-Portis follows up on her successful "Not a Box" (HarperCollins, 2007) with equally pleasing results. Young listeners will be treated to the imaginative world of a charmingly minimalist pig who appears to be holding an ordinary stick. Following each admonition, "Hey, be careful with that stick," the youngster insists on the following spread that "it's not a stick." Its true nature is then dramatically revealed through clever illustrations. Morphing from a fishing pole to a drum major's baton, a paintbrush, a barbell, a horse, a spear, and finally to a sword, this "Not-a-stick" is clearly a powerful key to other worlds. Portis's simple color palette and playful drawings with never a line out of place represent the best in children's illustration. Perfect for sharing aloud, "Not a Stick" will inspire youngsters to look for the magic in ordinary objects."Jayne Damron, Farmington Community Library, MI"

Copyright 2008 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

February 15, 2008
This is literally a follow-up toNot a Box (2007), in which a rabbitnotesthe imaginary thingsa box can be. Here, the animal is a pig, and the object is a stick. When the unseen narrator urges, Be careful with that stick, the pig repliesthat itsnot a stick. And sure enough, on succeeding pages, theobjectis a sword, a fishing rod, and inexplicably, a horse. Once again Portisvery simpleblack line drawings, set against clean backgrounds, leave plenty of room for imagination. Childrenwill hope for others in the Not a series.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2008, American Library Association.)