(1) 4-6 Shulevitz was just four when the Nazis invaded Poland in September of 1939, forcing his family members to flee their homeland. Thus began nearly a decade of displacement, discrimination, and hunger, as the Jewish refugee family endured the horrors of war and a tenuous peace, moving to northern Russia, Turkestan, back to Poland, and then to Germany, before settling in Paris in 1947. Despite their often-illegal status, the boy's parents tried to scrape together a living, working any jobs they could find. Throughout the moves and various illnesses associated with subsistence living, young Uri was sustained by his mother's stories and his greatest pleasure and solace--his near-obsessive love of drawing. This memoir, Shulevitz's (Caldecott Medalist for The Fool of the World and the Flying Ship and three-time Honoree) first foray beyond the picture-book format, is heavily illustrated with the artist's lively and expressive grayscale renderings (and occasional black-and-white photographs), punctuating and illuminating some of the most poignant and emotional moments in the narrative. In a number of sections, he enhances the storytelling via a series of dramatic graphic panels. Though touching on many dark and serious topics, this story is totally focused on the fears, triumphs, and sensibilities of a child. It is truly a portrait of an artist as a young man thrust into a maelstrom of a world gone mad and relying on chance to decide his fate. This thoroughly engrossing memoir will sit comfortably on a shelf with Peter Sís's The Wall (rev. 9/07) and Allen Say's Drawing from Memory (rev. 9/11).

Reviewer: Luann Toth | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2020

(2) PS Little car Troto drives into Cactusville. He's hassled by the Big Trucks who live there; undaunted, he challenges them to a race. At first Troto falls behind, but some lucky breaks send him nimbly around, over, and through the others, earning their respect. The illustrations' bold outlines, rounded shapes, and vibrant Southwest setting combine with a snappy text in this underdog story.

Reviewer: Julie Roach | Horn Book Magazine Issue: May, 2015

(2) K-3 "Boy with dog and grandfather with beard go for a walk" in Greenwich Village. "As nature's lights go out, city's lights come on" until the streets are abloom with Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, and Christmas illuminations. Text here is minimal, with a nice lilt featuring irregular rhyme; the figures carry the action--whether Old-Country sturdy, stylishly debonair, or zany. A lovely companion piece to Shulevitz's Snow.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2013

(3) PS Neither the mood of Shulevitz's story nor the magic of his illustrations is lost in the board book edition of this Caldecott Honor book. The optimistic anticipation and joyful exhilaration of "boy with dog" are undiminished by the smaller trim size. Young listeners will certainly delight in the transformative power of "snow, snow and snow" that brings the story to a close.

Reviewer: Viki Ash | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 1999

(2) K-3 The child narrator takes an imaginary ship's voyage. Though unfazed by a pretend pirate, he's unnerved by a real portrait that resembles the pirate. As the play-absorbed boy moves between the real world and the realm of his imagination, Shulevitz segues expertly between the spare, cozy home, vibrant with active perspectives, and a lush fantasy jungle enriched with botanicals in surreal colors.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: November, 2009

(2) K-3 When Father brings home a map instead of bread, the famished narrator and his mother are angry. Still, once it's hung up, the boy is entranced. In Shulevitz's skillfully composed, emotionally charged art, evocative scenes of the refugee family leaving war-torn Europe and traversing Asia's "dusty steppes," with their dour, angular villages, give way to the dreamlike splendor of the boy's imagination.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2008

(3) PS A mesmeric (though almost extraneous) text captures the feeling of suspended animation in the household, when all residents--and objects--slumber. Watercolors in the coolest of shades reinforce the sleepy mood until music wafts in, bringing color and movement. The faces on the personified objects will pull children in, although the passive role of the boy may distance some readers.

Reviewer: Martha V. Parravano | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 2007

(2) 4-6 The twelfth-century Spanish-Jewish traveler Benjamin of Tudela ranged around the greater Mediterranean world, chiefly interested in visiting Jerusalem and other, scattered Jewish communities. Shulevitz provides an eye-filling tour of the medieval Mediterranean with a tacit reminder, for non-Jews and Jews alike, of the breadth and constraints of Jewish life in the Diaspora.

Reviewer: | Horn Book Magazine Issue: March, 2005

(2) K-3 The Emperor of Pickleberry keeps "a genius of a bird" named Lou in a cage, where (except for the cage) he's treated better than the palace janitor, who happens to be the Emperor's twin. A long wind-up, embroidered with fantastical anecdotes, zany logic, and repartee that's at times more nonsensical than witty, culminates in a satisfyingly comical conclusion. Shulevitz's amusing Escher-like illustrations are fascinating throughout.

Reviewer: Joanna Rudge Long | Horn Book Magazine Issue: September, 2000

(2) PS The transforming power of a snowstorm is the premise of this book set in a dour, gray little town. Only a hopeful small boy recognizes the first snowflake as a harbinger of the wonder to come--nor is he discouraged as one adult after another tries to disabuse him. The minimalist text and carefully composed illustrations demonstrate Shulevitz's belief that the true picture book, with its inevitable melding of words and art, is a distinct genre.

Reviewer: Mary M. Burns | Horn Book Magazine Issue: January, 1999