Say What?

May 2, 2011
"They say what they say/ in their own silly way,/ when they say what they say/ with their sounds every day." Chou's stylish artwork adds punch to DiTerlizzi's (the Adventure of Meno series) meditation on the real meaning of animal sounds. Chou's wide-eyed creatures live just like humans, using cellphones and raiding the fridge. "When a lion says roar,/ does he really mean more?" wonders DiTerlizzi, as a harassed-looking lion father brings another box of bath toys to his son (he's the one doing the roaring). "When a horse says neigh,/ does she really mean hay?" she asks, for which Chou supplies a spread of two horses dressed in cowboy outfits, making hay angels in the stubble on a sunny field. Deep blues and yellows make the pages glow, and almost every spread highlights a loving parent-child dynamic. DiTerlizzi's jazzy verse translations of animal sounds work well, though she backs away a bit at the endâ"What animals say, we really don't know." Chou, on the other hand, gives his imagination free rein. Ages 2â5.

May 15, 2011

A small boy wonders and speculates what animals might mean by their traditional sounds.

The stylized animals shown using megaphones and paper-cup telephones on the cover reappear inside fully clothed, behaving in familiar human ways and using a wide variety of communications devices. A lion cub roars for more toys in the bathtub. A duckling quacks for a snack in front of an open refrigerator. A small snake hisses for a kiss from her mother. Simple rhyming couplets and a repeating chorus, "They say what they say / in their own silly way, / when they say what they say / with their sounds every day" carry the narrative, which concludes with the child's "I do love you so!" to his mother. Full-bleed, double-page, digitally rendered illustrations in slightly muted retro colors use a flattened perspective to show a variety of parent/child interactions. These offer some imaginative activities, such as identifying cloud shapes and making hay angels, and include a range of settings. Perceptive observers will notice humorous details: a baby lamb with a pacifier, a bird birthday party with a cat piñata, an old-fashioned stand telephone in a booth.

For preschoolers who enjoy language play, this opens up whole new opportunities for communication. (Picture book. 2-5)

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

June 1, 2011

PreS-Gr 1-A freckle-faced boy wonders how he should interpret the sounds animals make. "When a cow says MOO, /does she really mean WHO?/When a lion says ROAR, /does he really mean MORE?" The anthropomorphized animals in the full-bleed digital illustrations are shown interacting as a parent and child would. A mother snake kisses her baby, and a father and daughter horse make "snow angels" in a field of hay. A short tongue-twisting musing near the middle of the story helps segue to the loving message the boy communicates to his mom. With bright, vivid colors, endearing animals, and plenty of delightful details, this picture book is sure to find an appreciative audience.-Tanya Boudreau, Cold Lake Public Library, AB, Canada

Copyright 2011 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.