12/01/2016
PreS-Gr 1—Isadora explores common sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures from a preschooler's perspective in this winsome sensory tour. Combining short, declarative sentences with colorful ink and watercolor vignettes, the cheerful spreads showcase a cast of diverse, expressive kids in their everyday worlds. A final page, featuring the titular pickle, cleverly ties everything together into a delicious whole and invites repeated sharing.
★ 2015-10-06
Only the last page features the titular pickle—the rest of the book is a tribute to the five senses that will resonate with young readers. Highlighting sensory experiences that will be familiar to the majority of readers, Isadora focuses on one sense at a time, progressing from hearing to smelling, seeing, touching, and tasting (readers can track their progress with a list in the upper right of each spread); she devotes three spreads to all but taste, which gets only two. An ethnically diverse group of young children tell readers what they sense—or don't—in simple declarative sentences that are sometimes embellished by the kids' thoughts: "I don't smell. I have a cold." "I don't see the words in my book. / I wear my glasses. I see the words!" "I touch the egg. Oops!" While one girl enjoys PB&J, another says, "I taste a jelly sandwich. I'm allergic to peanuts." Isadora's ink-and-watercolor artwork uses vignettes and white backgrounds to bring each sense to the forefront, and children of most skin and hair colors will find at least one face like their own in these pages (glasses are the only depicted disability, however). Teachers, make sure this is on your shelves—it's a great read-aloud, an easy read for beginning readers, and a model for student books. (Picture/concept book. 3-6)
* “A sensory tour of early childhood, exploring common sights, sounds, smells, tastes, and textures. . . . The artist’s trademark style is perfectly suited to depict the child-focused activities of these diverse, expressive, and engaging tots. . . . A sour, spicy, slippery, crunchy, green treat. Preschoolers and their caregivers will devour this oversize title and come back for more.”—School Library Journal, starred review
* “A tribute to the five senses that will resonate with young readers. . . . An ethnically diverse group of young children tell readers what they sense—or don’t—in simple declarative sentences that are sometimes embellished by the kids’ thoughts. . . . Children of most skin and hair colors will find at least one face like their own in these pages. . . . A great read-aloud, an easy read for beginning readers, and a model for student books.”—Kirkus Reviews, starred review
* “Isadora’s book about the five senses is aimed perfectly at another sense—kids’ sense of humor. . . . Small vignettes of children exploring their world, both indoors and out. . . . Interjections throughout, printed in italics, add read-aloud pleasure. . . . Delicate ink and watercolor illustrations on white backgrounds nicely elicit a young child’s point of view. . . . Be sure to have a jar of baby dills on hand for this one.”—The Horn Book, starred review
* “This fetching concept book from veteran author/illustrator Isadora offers a gallery of sensory experiences. . . . Has the gently carnivalesque charm of Krauss and Sendak’s A Hole Is to Dig as kids weigh in on different experiences and responses in multiple vignettes per page. Some of the vignettes are self-contained moments of poetry; sometimes a sequence provides a satisfying bijou story. Delicate lines with simple watercolor shading and patterns keep the small tableaux simple, but they’re vivid with life from the multicultural cast of bouncy kids and the evocation of life’s sensory encounters, from the homely smell of baby poo to the glorious vision of fireworks. This will be excellent fodder for sharing in a preschool curriculum, and audiences will be chiming in to offer their own examples of what they hear, see, and most definitely smell.—The Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books, starred review
“Simplicity is the defining note of Isadora’s inviting introduction to the senses. . . . Drawing from everyday experiences in a child’s life, Isadora pays tribute to the senses, as well as to the natural world, friends, family, food, pets, curiosity, and discovery. . . . Isadora’s book brims with teachable moments, yet it’s her expressive ink and watercolor vignettes that steal the spotlight.”—Publishers Weekly
“Isadora’s simple ink drawings, brightened with watercolors, have an unpretentious charm. . . . The clean, white pages provide spacious settings for the characters, whose actions, reactions, and observations will intrigue young kids. Well designed for raising awareness of the senses, this is fine for reading aloud in a group setting and particularly effective one-on-one.”—Booklist
