With a few well-chosen sound effects, a cozy winter landscape, and a group of enthusiastic, four-legged sledders, Judge (Strange Creatures: The Story of Walter Rothschild and His Museum) creates a story that’s both cuddly and smartly paced. “Scrunch scrinch scrunch scrinch scrunch scrinch” is just the noise a bear’s padded paws might make walking across the snow as he nicks a red sled he finds leaning up against a house—he’s intent on a little evening recreation. “Gadung gadung gadung gadung” is the noise the sled makes as it courses, shuddering, down the hill under the combined weight of the bear, a moose, and a rabbit. “Sssssffft” is the sound it makes as the three carve out a turn past a tree with a couple of curious raccoon pups and an opossum on it, then “Whoa” as the spectators drop onto the crowded sled. Judge makes the animals fuzzy and well-padded without slipping into sentimentality. Her spreads are lucidly drafted, the action is easy to follow—peppy, but never frenetic—and the conclusion is both inevitable and satisfying. Ages 2–5. (Nov.)
*“Judge’s latest may be virtually wordless, but it packs a powerful visual punch that will stick with readers long after the final page is turned…. The entirety is wordless but for the carefully chosen onomatopoeic words that perfectly capture the sounds and bring the adventure to life…. Though rendered simply, Judge’s pencil-and-watercolor animals are gloriously full of life and infectious joy. Readers will be hard-pressed to finish this without letting their own joy show through. Pure genius.”
—Kirkus Reviews, October 1, 2011, *STAR
*"The premise of this book is simple; the execution is anything but.... Pencil and watercolor spreads create a basic wintry mountain environment, but the stars of the show are the expressive animals. Their childlike delight in each dynamic scene brings a sense of excitement to the story. The text consists entirely of sound effects, laid out on the page in varying font sizes to evoke a sense of movement. The book begs to be read aloud and offers wonderful opportunities for audience participation. This delightful flight of fancy conveys the true excitement of sledding with the imagined fun of befriending wildlife. A gem."
—School Library Journal, October 2011, *STAR
*“With a few well-chosen sound effects, a cozy winter landscape, and a group of enthusiastic, four-legged sledders, Judge (Strange Creatures: The Story of Walter Rothschild and His Museum) creates a story that’s both cuddly and smartly paced…. Judge makes the animals fuzzy and well-padded without slipping into sentimentality. Her spreads are lucidly drafted, the action is easy to follow—peppy, but never frenetic—and the conclusion is both inevitable and satisfying.”
—Publishers Weekly, October 17, 2011, *STAR
"The expanses of snow and starry skies project a remarkable silence in this almost wordless book, broken only by the whoops of the animals. Soft, round shapes abound. Pre-readers will love being able to tell the story themselves; don’t be surprised to see stuffed animals show up in strange places!"
—Library Media Connection, Jan/Feb 2012, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED
“Readers-aloud will relish the performance opportunities afforded by the critters’exclamations of “Alley-oop!”…. Audiences will appreciate the fantastical touch, warming particularly to the possibilities of the human-animal outing under the stars…. Use this as a wintry bedtime book, and encourage the kids to listen for animal-sledding sounds as they fall asleep.”
-The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books, December 2011
"I am, at this moment, wracking my brain to recall another children's book that so perfectly captures and portrays the feeling of delight that this one does.... RED SLED is pure magic."
—Richie's Picks, December 1, 2011
“Perfect for toddlers - wonderfully illustrated in pencil and watercolor with big bold images and no real words, just the sounds of woodland animals that have fun with a kid's red sled…. It's strikingly original and totally inspired."
—San Francisco Chronicle, December 25, 2011
“Just the right blend of danger and delight, this book is perfect for a wintry night."
—People Magazine, December 19, 2011
"In another nearly wordless romp in the great outdoors, award-winning author and illustrator Lita Judge (“Pennies for Elephants”) conjures the story of Red Sled.... There is no language – just a marvelous progression of “scrunch,” “ssssffft,” “whoa,” and “eeeee” as the critters whisk through the night on the sled. When the little boy awakes in the morning, there is just a scattering of telltale tracks to hint at what his sled might have experienced."
—Christian Science Monitor
“Talk about joy rides. Lita Judge’s drawings in pencil and watercolor enliven a simple, nearly wordless tale, but the biggest delights are the sound effects…a perfect book for reading aloud, especially by expressive readers who can do justice to a walk in the snow: “Scrinch scrunch scrinch scrunch scrinch scrunch.”
—USA Today, January 5, 2012
“Each double-page spread features a serene snowscape bathed in moonlight, the perfect foil for the explosive humor of the animals’ antics.”
—The Washington Post, January 3, 2012
“This nearly wordless, nearly perfect picture book celebrates winter in a most unusual way….The woodland characters are deftly rendered, and their joy is contagious.”
—The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, OH), March 4, 2012
PreS-Gr 2—The premise of this book is simple; the execution is anything but. A child (Caucasian, of indeterminate gender) leaves a red sled outside the house one night, and an ever-growing group of animals borrows it for some snowy sliding fun. Having noticed the footprints, the child realizes what happened and waits to join the critters the next night. Pencil and watercolor spreads create a basic wintry mountain environment, but the stars of the show are the expressive animals. Their childlike delight in each dynamic scene brings a sense of excitement to the story. The text consists entirely of sound effects, laid out on the page in varying font sizes to evoke a sense of movement. The book begs to be read aloud and offers wonderful opportunities for audience participation. This delightful flight of fancy conveys the true excitement of sledding with the imagined fun of befriending wildlife. A gem.—Heidi Estrin, Feldman Children's Library at Congregation B'nai Israel, Boca Raton, FL
Judge's latest may be virtually wordless, but it packs a powerful visual punch that will stick with readers long after the final page is turned. At the end of a winter day, a child props the titular sled outside a cozy cabin. A bear finds it there and sets off to enjoy the ride of all rides, joined in turn by some other forest denizens. As each joins the ride, the animals' positions change: The bear is on his back with the rabbit perched on his feet, then he is atop the moose's antlers, a position next occupied by an exhilarated-looking porcupine. By the end of the hill, the tower of animals on top of the sled is quite shaky and collapses, "fluoomp…….ft" in a heap. The entirety is wordless but for the carefully chosen onomatopoeic words that perfectly capture the sounds and bring the adventure to life: the "scrinch scrunch" of footsteps in new snow, the "sssssffft" of the sled on its run and the "whoa" of the animals as they enjoy the ride. When the fun is over, they return the sled to the cabin, where the child puzzles over the footprints in the morning. Though rendered simply, Judge's pencil-and-watercolor animals are gloriously full of life and infectious joy. Readers will be hard-pressed to finish this without letting their own joy show through. Pure genius. (Picture book. 2-7)
