Do Not Touch - Hardcover

Carrier, Lark

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0887080618 ISBN 13: 9780887080616

Publisher: Simon & Schuster, 1991

Synopsis

Foldout pages reveal words-within-words associated with a child's day at school.

About this title

From School Library Journal:

Grade 1-4-- The imaginative author-illustrator of Scout & Cody (1987) and There Was a Hill (1985, both Picture Book Studio) here presents a book of wordplay. A series of boldly graphic double-page spreads feature commonly used phrases which march across the stark white pages in crisp black letters. When the right-hand page is unfolded, another double-page spread is revealed in which the final letters of the last word of the phrase are picked out, revealing themselves to be a completely different word which is illustrated in a collage of pastel impressions. Thus, "What I'm hearing" expands to a collection of pictures of things that "ring"; "Do not touch" becomes a collection of things that hurt ("ouch"). The action is organized around a small apple-cheeked boy's schoolday from morning ("Today's surprise"--rise) to return from school to be greeted by his dog ("with my friend"--end). This is a clever idea for a book, more accessible to the older range of picture book readers who will be more likely to understand and appreciate the layered puns in the text. The pictures float across the pages in a stylized Chagall-like fashion with cooler, bluer, shades predominating. An interesting and original idea for a book: quietly mind expanding in a gentle way. --Christine Behrmann, New York Public Library
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Publishers Weekly:

Bold black type on stark white pages begin each set of word associations. "Today's Surprise" takes the last four letters, "rise," and in a gatefold illustration, depicts a child awakening in the morning light. "Ouch" breaks away from "Do Not Touch," with an illustration of a porcupine, poison and a hot flame, among other things. Some of the concepts are more clear than others. "Quite Bright" becomes "Right," with a child surrounded by arithmetic equations. "I Never Knew" becomes "New," and teams up objects: acorn equals oak, caterpillar equals butterfly. Perhaps that's a bit obscure for the picture book audience, but the pastels are easy on the eye and have a soft, diffused look. Carrier's wordplay, minus the illustrations, makes a point about word patterns that few basal readers could. Readers may initiate a few word associations of their own, and that is an activity well worth inspiring. Ages 5-up.
Copyright 1989 Reed Business Information, Inc.

About this edition

• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 0887080618
• ISBN 13: 9780887080616
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 27