The Horn Book Guide

PICTURE BOOKS

Pattison, Darcy

The Journey of Oliver K. Woodman

48 pp. | Harcourt | April, 2003 | Trade ISBN 0-15-202329-1 $$16.00

(2) K-3 Illustrated by Joe Cepeda. In California, Tameka writes her uncle in North Carolina to come for a visit; Uncle Ray, tied up with carpentry jobs, responds by sending off "my friend Oliver"--a human-sized wooden figure he equips with a note asking for a lift and a progress report. It's Pattison's straight-faced treatment of Oliver's transcontinental journey in one after another letter that creates the drama that Cepeda expertly stages.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2003