PreS --``I learned to . . . from my friend(s) . . .'' is the one sentence a young girl repeats on each double-page spread in this simple concept book. The primitive watercolors are, for the most part, bright and attractive against a white backdrop. However, the quality is inconsistent; occasionally dark or poorly defined objects and animals appear, limiting the book's use to the one-on-one situation. The repetitious text quickly becomes tedious, and there is no sign of real movement in any of the characters. Facial expressions are almost nonexistent. Some of the size relationships are inaccurate (rabbit-girl/owl-girl), and a few of the activities the child engages in are unsettling, let alone unrealistic. A good attempt that misses the mark. --Carolyn Vang, Monroe County Library System, Rochester, NY
. . . the prevailing mood is one of continuous celebration. Publisher's Weekly
An elementary story that will reach toddlers and older preschoolers alike. Booklist
—PARENTS' CHOICEStarred Review
The illustrations are vibrant. The story is simple—a little girl tells what she has learned from her friend the cat, her friend the dog, her friend the horse, her friend the gorilla and other friends both common and unlikely. Children will quickly be pointing out the whimsical details in the art.
—PUBLISHERS WEEKLY, June, 1990
In this ode to everyday activities and things, a free-spirited girl hops, jumps and kicks her way across the countryside, paying homage to her friends along the way. Like a satellite launched into perpetual motion, the constantly moving child praises—among others—the rooster who taught her to march, the ant who taught her to explore the earth and the teachers who taught her to study. In spare, luminous landscapes, the minute world reveals a special beauty to those still and attentive enough to behold it. The activities depicted are alternately lively and quiet, but the prevailing mood is one of continuous celebration. Gomi's (Bus Stops; Where's the Fish?) meticulous sense of design and careful use of brilliantly colored, highly delineated images imbues the story with a sense of the wonder and delight to be derived from life's simplest—but bountiful—moments. Ages 2-4.
—BOOKLIST, July 1990
A little girl recites all the pleasurable things she has learned from her friends. "I learned to jump from my friend the dog. I learned to climb from my friend the monkey. I learned to run from my friend the horse." The litany continues, including such meaningful things as reading and studying and, most importantly, loving. Gomi's simple watercolors, marked by spare, cutout shapes, are set against a clean white background. An elemental story that will reach toddlers and older preschoolers alike.
—FIVE OWLS, September/October 1990
Winner of the Graphic Prize at the 1989 Bologna Children's Book Fair, Taro Gomi has once more created a perfect blend of art and text in this simple picture book in which a little girl's animal friends demonstrate some basic actions learned in life. The little girl gives credit to a variety of living creatures for exemplifying things humans are apt to take for granted, from walking to star-gazing and from singing to smelling the flowers.
The young learner accepts easily the examples provided by her animal friends and then moves smoothly to learning from books, teachers, and human friends the more complicated tasks of reading, studying, and playing together. The straightforward text is rhythmic, and the graphic collage style is brilliantly colored. Subtle and humorous details, expressions, actions, and objects encourage careful rereading.
