Ball Board Book

by Mary Sullivan

Overview

A Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book

A dog with a ball is one of the most relentlessly hopeful creatures on Earth.

After his best little girl pal leaves for school, this dog hits up yoga mom, baby, and even the angry cat for a quick throw. No luck!

Forced to go solo, the dog begins a hilarious one-sided game of fetch until naptime’s wild, ball-centric dream sequence. The pictures speak a thousand words in this comic book-style ode to canine joy.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780544313613
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	01/07/2015
Pages:	32
Product dimensions:	6.70(w) x 7.50(h) x 0.90(d)
Age Range:	3 Months to 3 Years

About the Author

Mary Sullivan spent a great deal of time drawing in her formative years. Though she received a BFA from the University of Texas at Austin, she considers herself a self-trained illustrator. Ms. Sullivan has shown her work at galleries and coffees shops in Dallas and Austin. She channels her considerable creative energy  into projects for Highlights for Children, Scholastic, Innovative Kids, School Zone, Oxford Press U.K., Pearson and many more. Her first picture book for HMH, Ball, was a 2014 Geisel Honor Book. She lives in Cedar Park, Texas.
www.marysullivan.com
Twitter: @sullivandraws
Instagram: @sullivandraws

Editorial Reviews

"Illustrator Sullivan makes a hilarious debut as an author by touring the brain of a ball-obsessed dog. . . . It's a paean to the neurotic single-mindedness of dogs, and a brilliant study of boredom."
—Publishers Weekly, starred review

"A humorous portrait of a dog with a one-track mind. . . . A fine choice for independent readers and dog lovers everywhere."
—School Library Journal

"Deceptively simple little winner for dog lovers."
—Kirkus

"Everything from the dog's brief encounter with a cat to his extended, ball-centric dream, told in full-page drawings, will make viewers giggle along with the story. Even those who have never had or wanted a dog will find themselves pining for a canine companion with similarly irresistible exuberance."
—Booklist

"Sullivan deftly captures doggy poses that run the spectrum from ecstasy to dejection. . . this will be a natural decode-alone for kids who are accustomed to parsing pictures, and they'll delight in the ability to read it all themselves."
—Bulletin

"Ball is one long joke, but a good one. . . . Get this dog a frisbee and a follow-up."
—The New York Times Online —

From the Publisher

Told in hilarious and nearly wordless panels…and a subdued palette, Ball is one long joke, but a good one.

The New York Times - Pamela Paul

The single word "ball" comprises the text of this visual chronicle of a day in the life of a dog and his ball. An unnamed, roly-poly pooch lies curled on a little girl's bed with a ball in his mouth. As the girl wakes up, she yells, "BALL," and enthusiastically tosses it. To the dog's utter joy, the girl continues tossing the ball while she dresses, but, alas, she leaves him alone with his ball when she heads off to school. Failing to entice the meditating mother, the puzzled baby and the freaked-out cat to play ball, the dog finally takes a nap on the girl's bed, dreaming wild dreams about his ball until the girl returns from school--just in time to play ball all over again. As the day progresses, the word "ball" reappears in bubbles above the dog's head with variations in punctuation, size and typeface, reflecting his mood and emphasizing his obsession with the round toy. Subdued illustrations, executed in pencil and digitally colored in pale hues, carry this story, allowing the eye to zero in on that all-important bright red ball and the endearingly droll dog, whose comic facial expressions and exaggerated body language convey bewilderment, determination, frustration, disappointment, boredom, anticipation, fear and euphoria as he spends a day with his ball. Deceptively simple little winner for dog lovers. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews