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Boyd, Lizi
11 Reviews
(3)
PS
It's bedtime, but Arlo's animal friends are excited to put on a play. In each spread, the animals highlight a different element of playmaking: scenery, costumes, sound, movement, props, etc. Finally, everything comes together in a satisfying gatefold. Speech-bubble text, clever die-cut curtains, and canny details in the bold gouache illustrations encourage exploration, observation, and rereading.
Reviewer: Amy Seto Forrester
(2)
PS
A child writes a message on a piece of birchbark. Various animals interact with the note as it becomes a house, a hat, a basket, and more until finally the wind delivers it to its intended recipient: the child's friend. On each page, tidy gouache illustrations show both the creature that last had the note and a hint of who's next, enabling viewers to make predictions.
Reviewer: Julie Roach
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
November, 2017
(3)
PS
Boyd's opposites concept book has a striking shape (tall and thin) and palette (red, black, white, and gray) and features eye-pleasing compositions on each page. A framing story of two bears and their chairs resolves sweetly in the end, preceded by examples of unusual opposites, including Big Zebra/little broom and little umbrella/Big Bird.
Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano
(2)
PS
Silvery-gray gouache illustrations on thick black pages set the tone for this nighttime nature walk. A boy trains his flashlight on various items, making full-color details visible in its arc. Small die-cuts and occasional spots of color highlight other details. In a gently fantastical turn, the animals he's been observing use the flashlight to get him safely back. An inventive wordless offering.
Reviewer: Julie Roach
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
November, 2014
(2)
PS
This wordless book follows a young boy through the seasons, with die-cut windows linking spreads of the boy inside, putting on a puppet show or reading; and then outdoors, planting a garden or building a tree house. The brown-paper-bag look of the pages (containing black line drawings and pops of color) reinforces the book's crafty, homemade feeling.
Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
July, 2013
(4)
PS
These books describe a day with Grandma or Grandpa. With Grandma, a little girl frog goes to yoga class, swims, and plays dress up. With Grandpa, a boy frog gardens, goes boating, and eats lunch at a diner. The thick pages and clear, colorful illustrations are appealing. The rather flatly told stories don't have much tension but are comforting nonetheless. Review covers these titles: I Love Grandma and I Love Grandpa.
Reviewer: Amy Kellman
(4)
PS
These books describe a day with Grandma or Grandpa. With Grandma, a little girl frog goes to yoga class, swims, and plays dress up. With Grandpa, a boy frog gardens, goes boating, and eats lunch at a diner. The thick pages and clear, colorful illustrations are appealing. The rather flatly told stories don't have much tension but are comforting nonetheless. Review covers these titles: I Love Grandma and I Love Grandpa.
Reviewer: Amy Kellman
(4)
PS
In Daddy, a boy frog describes a day spent with his dad; in Mommy, it's a girl frog who rhapsodizes about her day spent in her mother's company. The narratives have no restrictions--no plot, no conflict, no rhymes--to relieve them from their focus on the loving relationship between parent and offspring. Like the texts, the flat gouache illustrations are deceptively artless. Review covers these titles: I Love Daddy and I Love Mommy.
Reviewer: Nell Beram
(4)
PS
In Daddy, a boy frog describes a day spent with his dad; in Mommy, it's a girl frog who rhapsodizes about her day spent in her mother's company. The narratives have no restrictions--no plot, no conflict, no rhymes--to relieve them from their focus on the loving relationship between parent and offspring. Like the texts, the flat gouache illustrations are deceptively artless. Review covers these titles: I Love Daddy and I Love Mommy.
Reviewer: Nell Beram
(3)
PS
A young boy talks his dog through the process of getting dressed: e.g., "You need just one more thing--a jacket. Good dog!" This sweet little book ends with a good gag: once his pet is dressed like a human, the boy dons a doggy costume. The flat gouache images, mainly in bold secondary hues, reinforce the warmth that permeates the text.
Reviewer: Nell Beram
(3)
PS
This retelling of L. Leslie Brooke's 'Johnny Crow's Garden' abridges and updates the original rhyming text about a crow and her animal friends enjoying a day in her garden. Boyd's gouache paintings showcase her flat, childlike style, using a warm, bright palette. An amiable new take on an old classic.
Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.
11 reviews
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