Don't Blink!

Starred review from April 17, 2017
The staring contest: it’s a refreshingly low-tech competition, and Booth (Who Wins?) captures the silly thrill of it all. His story opens with a bright-eyed girl sitting cross-legged in a minimally rendered outdoor setting. She looks straight at the reader, shouts “Go,” and assumes a fixed (but always amiable) gaze. Animals trickle onto the scene, politely ask to join, and are welcomed to do so—“Just don’t blink,” the girl reminds the newcomers. Within a few pages, nearly a dozen creatures have joined this battle of wills, each assuming a goofy, glassy look. “Don’t blink, don’t blink, don’t blink, don’t blink,” shouts the girl as weary eyes begin to narrow, but something’s eventually got to give. A normally instantaneous reflex is stretched out over three very funny spreads, and the reader is declared the winner. (Equally funny is a tortoise’s glacial progress across the page to see what’s going on.) Ingenious, interactive, and just meta enough, it may even convince a few reluctant readers that staring at a book can be a lot of fun. Ages 3–6. Agent: Rick Richter, Zachary Shuster Harmsworth Literary.

May 1, 2017

PreS-Gr 2- Booth engages readers with an increasingly difficult staring contest. A friendly, bob-haired girl initiates the challenge, and a series of animals ask to join in, including a red bird, a fox, a crocodile, a monkey, a giraffe, a gorilla, an elephant, a frog, a porcupine, an owl, and a cheetah. All are frequently reminded, "Just don't blink!" When everyone gives in at once, each wonders who won, leaving readers the sole witness to the answer-an enormous tortoise who very gradually has entered the tale on the right-hand page. Ink and gouache cartoons were developed digitally. Booth wisely keeps the background flat beige to enhance the animation of his animals. VERDICT A jolly fun interactive read-aloud, perfect for one-on-one and small group sharing.-Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA

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