One Yellow Ribbon

March 1, 2019

PreS-Gr 2-This wordless board book from the creator of One Patch of Blue is a visual treat. It begins with cover art depicting a dark-skinned girl in two braids tied with yellow ribbon. The first page shows the ribbon untied, looping and rippling as if trying to escape. The collage illustrations use actual ribbons on every page as they morph into a lion's mane, a pencil, a flower, a cane, an animal's stripe, a dress, and, finally, the moon. Jocelyn uses the ribbon creatively, taking advantage of its physical versatility. For the flower, she folds it; for an animal stripe, she ripples it; for the flute, she adds colored ovals to represent the holes and keys; and for the dress, she significantly enlarges the ribbon. The book is visually fascinating, with simple backgrounds that encourage viewers to focus on the main image the ribbon inhabits. While the concept of the various uses of the ribbon may be sophisticated for the board book audience, the images themselves are very accessible. Additionally, they can serve an older audience as a creativity prompt, either to talk or write about what else Jocelyn could have done with it, or for the children to create art themselves. As such, several copies might be necessary in order to serve multiple populations. VERDICT A lovely board book that is a bit out of the box.-Amy Lilien-Harper, Wilton Library, CT

Copyright 2019 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

May 15, 2019
The titular yellow ribbon explores the world. In this book and its companion, One Patch of Blue, a yellow ribbon tied around a child's braid and a patch sewn onto a pair of jeans find new lives out in the world. The ribbon forms the mane of a lion, crops on a farm, and the dress on a woman dancing with her family, while the blue patch becomes the car on a Ferris wheel, the window of an ice cream truck, and the diamond in the middle of a stained glass window. On each page, readers must find the patch or the ribbon and, if inspired, can tell a story about what they see. As in earlier titles One Red Button and One Piece of String (both 2017), Jocelyn's textured and vibrantly colored collage-style illustrations are filled with delightful detail and feature diverse characters; the children on the covers of both books have brown skin. Unlike the previous books, the materials are often well-hidden in the pictures, presenting a challenge for very young children. Furthermore, while each picture is rich in detail, they are not grouped thematically, making it difficult for older children to tell a coherent story that flows page to page. That being said, the images are beautifully rendered, and, in both books, the double-page spreads are breathtaking. A cleverly illustrated wordless outing that is a natural progression for readers of Jocelyn's previous board books. (Board book. 1-3)

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