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Emberley, Ed
19 Reviews
(2)
K-3
"You'll find lots around / If you'll just look and see." This provocative and humorous picture book aims to show how readers may recognize shapes in all kinds of things. The sketches in blue, green, and black have sprightly detail and free use of space: from the flea's wing and bird's beak to the big Ferris wheel.
Reviewer: The Horn Book, Inc.
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
August, 1961
(3)
K-3
At the Spare Parts Mart, lonely Rhoobart meets fellow robot Sweetart, who says, "You don't need a new heart, / you just need a jump start!" She does the honors, leading to a fast friendship. The endlessly resourceful Emberleys' intermittently rhyming ode to oddity features collage-style art, here foregrounding found-object body parts: a rotary-dial eye, a scissors leg, etc.
Reviewer: Nell Beram
(3)
PS
Like this book's classic predecessor, Go Away, Big Green Monster, listeners turn die-cut pages to reveal, body part by body part, a little monster. Then it's "nighty night" to the body parts as they disappear one by one and stars are added. This is a simple bedtime story and a subtle introduction to color and the body.
Reviewer: Katie Bircher
(4)
K-3
A scorpion convinces a crocodile to give him a ride across the river, and, because it's his nature, stings him halfway across. The crocodile bites back, and the two continue to fight as they sink to the river bottom, where "you can hear them arguing still." Electric blues and greens predominate in a muddled retelling of an often-modified fable.
Reviewer: Kathleen T. Horning
(3)
PS
I Like to Read series.
Mice dressed in bright winter gear skate patterns on ice. But wait--what do those patterns and lines create? A "cat with a hat skates with mice on ice. / Nice!" Colorful jagged-edged digital and cut-paper illustrations expand the very simple rhymes to make a lively story that is both delightful to look at and to read aloud.
Reviewer: Patricia Riley
(3)
K-3
An ant carrying some picnic leftovers home to her family encounters an all-bug band that serenades her until she reaches her destination; to thank them, she welcomes them into her home for a party. This Cajun-flecked retelling of a classic fable features illustrations that one would expect from the Emberleys: unimpeachable cut-paper-like art in electrifying color combinations.
Reviewer: Nell Beram
(3)
PS
Black-and-white beasties rendered with tribal art–like motifs cavort across brightly colored backgrounds in this counting rhyme. One by one, ten beasties (but no numerals) appear on graphically bold, busy pages. Sharp-eyed kids will delight to find one sharp-toothed monster gobbling the others as the counting goes backward from ten to one. A song is downloadable at the publisher's website.
Reviewer: Carolyn Shute
(3)
PS
The kids' classic "If You're Happy and You Know It" is reborn with monster-centric lyrics: "If you're a monster and you know it, / and you really want to show it, / if you're a monster and you know it--wriggle your warts." The dependable Emberleys dress a dead-black set with cut-paper-like digital art starring outer-spacey, reptilian, and otherwise creepy creatures.
Reviewer: Nell Beram
(3)
PS
When a purple cat, gray rat, and green frog repeatedly refuse to help her make a cake, Red Hen does it herself. Humor and repetition in the text ("'Not I,' said the cat. 'Not I,' said the rat. 'Bribbit,' said the frog") is mirrored in the graphically playful placement of small speckled chicks, mixing bowls, and multiple tiers of the ambitious confection.
Reviewer: Lolly Robinson
(3)
PS
In this takeoff on the classic cumulative story, a monster swallows increasingly large creatures, starting with a tick and ending with a jackal (his attempt to swallow a lion ends poorly). Deliciously bright colors and zany creature-within-creature illustrations will keep the pages of this silly verse turning. Repetition and a catchy onomatopoetic refrain ("scritchy-scratch, scritch, scritchy-scratch") make participation irresistible.
Reviewer: Sethany Rancier Alongi
(2)
PS
In this irreverent re-visioning, silly sound effects, comedic editorial comments, and riotous illustrations play up the bird-braininess of Chicken Little's ill-informed sky-is-falling crusade. Large, boldly colored birds with mesmerizingly multicolored eyes flap across spacious white pages, running for their lives. There's nothing subtle about this account of birds on the verge, which makes the book perfect for cheep storytime thrills.
Reviewer: Kitty Flynn
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
May, 2009
(2)
PS
This lesser-known book by the Emberleys is a bedtime paean to the wonders of night: "Fireflies / Owls / And yellow-eyed cats / All think night's nice / And of course / So do bats." Brilliantly colored spreads show various night scenes, leading to the gentle conclusion that "night's nice for sleeping."
Reviewer: Terri Schmitz
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
February, 1964
(4)
PS
As he did with Go Away, Big Green Monster!, Emberley uses die-cuts to reveal parts of a monster with each turn of a page. The story lacks the tight tension of the first book and the wonderful sense of the reader controlling the monster, but this new monster composed of simple shapes is visually appealing and the bugs are amusing.
Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth
(3)
PS
This bright, cumulative romp is set at the circus, where Kiko the mouse steals some cheese and is chased by the cat, who is chased by the dog, and so on, until Kiko's mother scares the elephant and saves the day--and the cheese. Against a savvy use of white space, boldly patterned art features bright, silly clown costumes, which tone down any too-scariness of the chase in this quick adventure.
Reviewer: Susan Halperin
(3)
K-3
Step-by-step drawings of trains and trucks fill this book like the ultimate traffic jam. Emberley demonstrates his signature method on the first spread and fills the rest of the book with vehicles made up of simple shapes: rectangles, triangles, lines, circles, squiggles, and dots. Any child with a fondness for the subject matter, a box of markers, and plenty of blank paper will be well rewarded.
Reviewer: Lolly Robinson
(3)
K-3
The first page introduces eleven simple figures, such as a triangle, a line, and a circle, which are all one needs "to draw all the things in this book." Each successive double-page spread presents a wordless step-by-step diagram showing how these shapes can form drawings of witches, skeletons, bats, and cats. Those who think they can't draw will be surprised--and inspired to further efforts--by the results.
Reviewer: Peter D. Sieruta
(3)
K-3
With ten fingers, an ink pad, and a few quick pen lines, Emberley shows how to create animals, flowers, food, landscapes, and people. Each spread has a theme (Birds, Holidays, Feelings, etc.) and shows several fingerprint constructions with cumulative step-by-step instructions. While the crowded presentation might appear overwhelming at first glance, persistent readers will be rewarded.
Reviewer: Lolly Robinson
(2)
K-3
Forty years and many best-selling books later, Ed Emberley has produced a full-color edition of his initial foray into children's books. Printed on black paper, it pulsates with color, with familiar shapes leaping from the pages. As in his other books, he makes everyone feel as though they too could easily become artists.
Reviewer: Terri Schmitz
| Horn Book Magazine Issue:
August, 1961
(4)
K-3
Three members of the Emberley family, all illustrators, contribute to a mixed bag of offerings. Ed creates computer art in comic-book-style panels to tell stories and describe craft activities. Rebecca's cut-paper art is easily more interesting and accomplished than her poems. Michael's offerings are the most balanced, with childlike appeal in the texts and an impressive variety of energetic styles and mediums for the art.
Reviewer: Lolly Robinson
19 reviews
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