One Piece of String

September 1, 2017

PreS-Gr 3-Don't let the format of these wordless books fool you-their uses extend beyond what might typically be considered toddler-only territory. In String, viewers follow a thin, white cotton cord from spread to spread. In the first image, it secures a parcel wrapped in crinkled brown paper, becoming next a clothesline, then an outline of a rabbit, a head of curly hair, and a bowl of spaghetti, until the final picture where a small child in silhouette is perched on a swing of string against a purple sky. The subject item in Button must be discovered in pictures depicting a parked fire engine, a ladybug, an apple tree, a traffic light, and so on as it rolls from scene to scene. In style, the collage artwork is reminiscent of Nancy Elizabeth Wallace's Apples, Apples, Apples! and The Kindness Quilt, featuring brightly colored paper cutouts against bold background colors or patterns. Both animals and objects in Jocelyn's delightful books will be familiar to most young children, and her illustrations, with their amusing details, lend themselves to repeated viewing. With these titles, some string, glue, and buckets of large buttons and crayons, educators and parents will have some ready-made art activities (supervised, of course) for mini-makers-and their older siblings. VERDICT Quirky and fun, these books are natural lead-ins to art projects.-Daryl Grabarek, School Library Journal

Copyright 2017 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

January 1, 2018
A piece of string can be many things in this cleverly illustrated wordless board book.When a piece of string is removed from a brown paper package, it takes on new roles, both predictable and surprising. Whether as a clothesline, a rabbit, or a bowl of spaghetti, the string twists and turns its way into a series of visually stimulating, child-friendly pictures. The absence of text in the book gives children and their caregivers the opportunity to invent stories about each page after they have identified the at-times-elusive string. Jocelyn's (Sam Sorts, 2017) ingenious collage-style illustrations effectively combine patterns and strong, bold blocks of color into highly textured results. The inclusion of a picture of a woman of color (with tightly curled hair made by the string) is a welcome addition to a genre that does not often stray from white, straight-haired characters. Unlike One Red Button (2017), which uses a similar conceit with a red button, the string can be challenging for very young readers to find, as when it forms the eyes of an owl or a bolt of lightning.Overall, this is a fun and thought-provoking book by a talented illustrator with a knack for wordless storytelling. (Board book. 2-4)

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