The Numberlys

March 10, 2014
In a lush series of b&w spreads meant to be viewed vertically, Joyce (the Guardians series) and newcomer Ellis imagine a factory lit like a Busby Berkeley set or Fritz Lang’s Metropolis, full of massive halls and gigantic machinery. Thousands of workers pour through its doors, and thousands of numbers emerge from it, providing order in the world and making it “numberly.” Alas, there are no “books or colors or jellybeans or pizza” in this regimented world; just 00267, which is “thick and gray and gloopy,” and 00268, which is “thicker and grayer and, well... gloopier.” With can-do spirit, five industrious elfin creatures break some of the factory’s numbers into pieces and invent letters, using the factory’s pulleys to lift them, steel mill–like claws to move them, and extruders to mold them like Play-Doh. The letters magically acquire color as they come off the assembly line, offering—at last—jellybeans and pizza, and even a new way to sleep (“zzzzzzz”). The story appeared first as an iPhone app, but works almost as well as a picture book, thanks to Joyce’s innate instinct for visual storytelling. Ages 3–7.

April 15, 2014
A successful app makes a transition to print. Joyce and Ellis' Moonbot Studios fable about an evolution in thinking loses something in the translation from tablet to print, despite its 50-plus-page length. A vast, somber art deco metropolis rendered in straight lines and monochromatic grays and browns houses a world of numbers and gears: "[E]verything added up." Five little beings, sporting round eyes and round heads (some with antennae), want "MORE." They design and manufacture a familiar, Western alphabet from the forms of numbers. Upon completion of the Z, the letters, bright with color, form the words of new, appealing ideas ("jellybeans," "yellow," "pizza"), even names. Numbers disappear altogether; the world transforms to full color. Young readers--and significant adults--frequently look for books to extend screen-based story experiences. The opportunity to look more closely at the Numberlys' world is definitely an attraction. But the visual richness isn't matched by the insubstantial plot, and suggesting that numbers aren't beautiful or that the sole source of color and fun is our alphabet seems trite and misguided. Much of the book requires turning pages vertically as if opening a calendar, matching the tall cityscape but making shared reading awkward. Neither the picture-book medium nor the Numberlys app is as well-served as each deserves. (Picture book. 4-7)

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April 1, 2014

K-Gr 3-In this large, mostly vertical picture book, the numberlys are tiny folks living in a black-and-white futuristic metropolis. Its buildings appear especially tall as the pages here often rotate the layout-readers must move the book a quarter turn so that the left-hand side tops a view spilling down the double page. The spare text and many wordless pages tell of a time when there were only numbers and no alphabet: "Everyone liked numbers. They had nice shapes and kept things in order. And everything added up...So life was sort of...numberly." Long, tidy rows of the little inhabitants, whose head antennae gives them an extraterrestrial appearance, include five friends who are unhappy with the sameness. This is a world where "there weren't any books or colors or jellybeans or pizza." But the friends want MORE, and in wordless spreads, they get to work, marching down long stairs among giant cogs and gears. As they struggle with the machinery lines, ad shapes tumble out. "At first it was awful. Then...artful..." As the falling bits shape into letters of the alphabet, they also take on color, and soon the world has pizza, jellybeans, and names for people. The varied layouts can be a bit confusing and the tone rather static, but there are comic moments and a provocative premise about the value of letters and words. The jacket flap invites readers "to "see this book come to life through the augmented reality app." Readers/viewers able to manipulate those machines on screen and help those little people crank out letters are likely to enjoy the lesson of recognizing and naming them. The numbers vs. alphabet concept seems sophisticated for young picture book readers, but teachers and librarians might find useful opportunities for discussion or by pairing this with other alphabet books.-Margaret Bush, Simmons College, Boston

Copyright 2014 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

March 15, 2014
Preschool-G In a kiddie homage to Fritz Lang's Metropolis, Joyce (The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore, 2012) has created an industrial city where, since only numbers exist, there are no words for colors or feelings or food. The inhabitants of the shadowy, sepia-toned city, the big-eyed Numberlys, march back and forth among retrofuturistic buildings in perfect unison until five fed up Numberlys set out to make something different. They put their welding goggles on, and with cranes, gigantic gears, and pulsing electricity, the five oddball friends build every letter of the alphabet. When they get to Z, their world is suddenly filled with color, and they can finally invent things like jelly beans, names, and pizza. Though there isn't much of a storyit amounts to little more than a brief alphabet book nestled in a vastly realized, imaginative atmosphereletter-learning kiddos (and their design-loving parents) will pore over the detailed spreads. Initially a popular app (much like The Fantastic Flying Books), this has the feel of an animated film, and that alone is a big appeal. HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Joyce has a built-in audience after the runaway multiplatform success of The Fantastic Flying Books, and this similar production should have them lining up.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2014, American Library Association.)