(1) PS In a brief picture book whose impact is greater than its size, a series of gorillas demonstrates the concept of opposites. On twelve double-page spreads, they gaze directly out at the viewer with arresting expressions. The first spread is a portrait of a kindly looking, grizzled gorilla. "What's the opposite of old?" A page-turn reveals the answer: "Young." And now we see, alone against a field of white space, a big-eyed, pinkish-haired, baby gorilla sucking its thumb. This pattern continues ("What's the opposite of sad?" "Happy") until the final pairing, which disrupts the pattern in a funny and original way. "What's the opposite of opposite?" "The same!" And here the illustration -- this time of a gorilla scratching its head and bearing a quizzical expression -- is repeated, humorously and perfectly. Readers will want to linger on each compelling watercolor and gouache portrait and spend some time communing with the creatures.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2024

(2) K-3 A dull day at the seaside yields to heart-pounding action. Danny's mother suggests that her mopey son take the dog for a walk on the beach, encouraging him to: "Keep your eyes open; you never know what you might see." In trademark Browne fashion ([Hide and Seek, rev. 11/18; What If...?, rev. 9/14), stable, symmetrical compositions echo Danny's mood as he and Scruff, a hairy yellow terrier mutt who embodies his name, pass glum beachside cottages to reach a bland, featureless beach beneath lowering gray clouds. Scruff's delight in a game of fetch lifts Danny's spirits, and the boy is further engaged when he spots faces and shapes in the beach rocks, studying them intently. Then he notices people waving at a far-off speck in the water who appears to be waving back. "Fetch!" he tells Scruff, and the dog obliges, swimming "on and on and on" in an edge-of-your-seat three-page sequence. Four half-page panels limit readers to Danny's foreshortened views of Scruff nearing the tiny, floundering figure and then slowly, slowly swimming back; the visual pacing is highly effective. A whale jumps joyfully in the background as Scruff leads the exhausted swimmer -- Danny's older brother! -- out of the surf against a now-bright-blue sky. Both a terribly high-stakes adventure and a celebration of the act of looking closely -- a favored theme of Browne's -- this day at the beach will have young readers riveted.

Reviewer: Vicky Smith | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2024

(2) K-3 To take their minds off their missing dog, Cy and Poppy play a game of hide-and-seek in the woods. Watercolor illustrations alternate between Cy's hiding in a pile of branches and Poppy's suspenseful search for him, with the eerie, intricate backgrounds suggesting other visual finds. The illustrations strategically make the children look extremely vulnerable--until they both hear a noise that leads to a reunion with their dog.

Reviewer: Julie Roach | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2018

(3) K-3 Willy the smartly dressed chimpanzee (Willy's Stories and others) is on his way to the park when he notices a cloud following him. Willy goes home and hides, but the cloud won't go away until he confronts it. Even if the youngest readers don't relate to Willy's grown-up appearance in Browne's exquisite mixed-media paintings, the story's message about facing worries is worthy and clearly conveyed.

Reviewer: Lisa Catherine Findlay

(3) K-3 Willy the chimp recounts the adventures he experiences through his favorite books and invites readers to join him. Each full-page painting is both a Browne original and a visual reference to other famous works of art. Willy's reading list includes classics such as Robinson Crusoe, Peter Pan, and The Tinderbox, giving readers something of an education about the history of children's literature.

Reviewer: Maeve Visser Knoth

(2) K-3 Joe lost the invitation--with the address--to his friend Tom's party. As Joe and his mom walk down Tom's street, each window they pass shows a silhouette of something seemingly ordinary inside. A page turn, however, brings into focus the surreal, sometimes nightmarish scenes that are actually taking place. With its sophisticated visual humor, this is Browne at his artistically weird and psychologically complex best.

Reviewer: Kathleen T. Horning | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2014

(2) PS Bear sets out on a walk through the forest, magical pencil in hand. The lushly illustrated woods are full of disgruntled animals, but Bear fixes everything. In this simple yet matter-of-factly bizarre picture book first published in the UK in 1988, Browne makes the surreal accessible. The text consists almost entirely of Bear's musings, which are reminiscent of a young child at play.

Reviewer: Sam Bloom | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2014

(1) PS For Anthony Browne, a gorilla is never just a gorilla. In this seemingly simple counting book from one to ten (plus a final coda), generous white space and classic type treatment balance expertly with large head-and-shoulders portraits of primates: "1 gorilla / 2 orangutans / 3 chimpanzees" up to "10 lemurs." Browne's watercolor technique is just about perfect, combining realism and exaggeration, mass and focus.

Reviewer: Lolly Robinson | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2013

(3) PS Clad in red-cuffed overalls and a grass-green sweater, one of Browne's trademark chimps responds to the title question. Though the premise is familiar, the text brief, and the illustrations spare, the engaging chimp expresses a range of feelings preschoolers will relate to. The final line of text--"How do YOU feel?"--pointedly invites readers to share their own emotions.

Reviewer: Carolyn Shute

(1) K-3 In this hauntingly original reworking of "The Three Bears," Goldilocks, walking her neighborhood's mean streets, gets lost. Her life is one of poverty, and her story is told in wordless panels, cramped and claustrophobic, with all the color leached out; the bears appear in soft pastels. Browne hews closely to the folktale's signal events, but the turned-on-its-head premise renders Goldilocks's actions deeply poignant.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2010

(2) K-3 A sign-language-speaking gorilla befriends a kitten. It's all fun and games until the gorilla, offended by King Kong, destroys their TV. When caretakers come to rescue the kitten, she takes the blame, in a demonstration of loyalty and animal intelligence. Browne's subversive fable, warm and fuzzy on the outside, ferocious within, is illustrated with impeccable large-scale pictures.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2009

(4) K-3 A little boy sings the praises of his "cool" older brother ("My brother stands up to bullies, and sits down on monsters") until the book's last pages: appearing for the first time, the narrator--a scaled-down dead ringer for his older sib--announces, "I'm cool, too!" The text has bounce and the art vigor, but readers may, justifiably, want more.

Reviewer: Nell Beram

(3) K-3 Billy's excessive anxieties paralyze him. Although his parents' reassurances don't console him, Billy confesses his worries to his grandma, who has just the thing: Guatemalan worry dolls who can shoulder the fears he confides in them. Browne's precise lines convey Billy as the embodiment of an overburdened worrier; the bright colors of the worry dolls emblemize his relief.

Reviewer: Miriam Lang Budin

(3) K-3 This paean to the narrator's mother ("My mom's as beautiful as a butterfly...") shows Browne's sunny side, as he repeats a motif of hearts and flowers on every page, from endpapers to mom's bathrobe. But with touches such as his signature gorilla (on a cake) and transformations (juggled balls become cars and houses), Browne rescues the book from blandness.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano

(4) K-3 While Browne's paean to fathers everywhere has child appeal, the publication of this smaller gift-book edition of the original picture book acknowledges that adults may appreciate the sentiments--"I love my dad. And you know what? / HE LOVES ME! (And he always will)"--more than kids.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander

(4) PS Super Sturdy Picture Book series. Browne's preschool-level paean to the wonder of books is a fine choice to reissue in this series. Unfortunately, the balanced design of the pages and the rhythm and pace of the text have been lost in this edition, in which the text begins on the verso rather then the recto, so that related text originally sharing a spread is now split up.

Reviewer: Jennifer M. Brabander | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 1989

(2) K-3 A boy wakes to find his dad inexplicably absent and is sent by his sad mom to bring cake to his ailing grandma. He takes the forest route, where fairy-tale characters lurk among watchful-eyed trees. Grandma welcomes him, feeling better; and Dad's there, too, ready and happy to come home. Browne's art eloquently expresses the feelings of a child too young to fully comprehend pivotal family events.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2005

(1) K-3 A family has come to spend the day at the Tate Britain gallery in London, and expectations are not high. Inside, we see the familiar technique of placing real artworks within the illustrative plane, but Browne manages to wrest humor, drama, and intimacy from his juxtapositions. The art-game element seems secondary to the book's more important invitation to make the connection between art and life and back again.

Reviewer: Roger Sutton | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2003

(1) K-3 This reissue of a Kate Greenaway Medal winner tells the tender story of a lonely girl who loves gorillas. Browne never shies away from emotional truths, and the opening scenes of Hannah being neglected by her too-busy father are almost unbearably sad. But miracles can happen, and Hannah's magical night out with her new gorilla friend gives us hope that her life is going to change for the better.

Reviewer: Terri Schmitz | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 1986

(3) K-3 Browne's brief narrative is a paean to fathers everywhere. Full-color illustrations depict the daring dad in a variety of roles, from wrestling giants and walking tightropes to playing soccer and dancing--always in his plaid robe. The whimsical illustrations show Dad with fins and a tail when his son brags, "he can swim like a fish," and small visual non sequiturs add a humorous seek-and-find component to the book.

Reviewer: CHristine Sarrazin