What's That Sound, Woolly Bear - Hardcover

PreSchool-Grade 1?In this celebration of insects and the sounds they make, a woolly bear caterpillar goes on a journey and listens to the calls of her friends along the way. At the end of her trip, she turns into a tiger moth and flies away. Readers might wish for more details about Woolly Bear; her transformation doesn't get enough build up and happens too quickly. Each double-page spread is dedicated to a different insect. Occasionally Woolly Bear can be seen "huffle-shuffling" along in the corner of the page. Paley's collages, made from textured paper, watercolors, and crayons, are quite impressive. Multiple layers give the pages a rich, three-dimensional look. Each insect is identified by name at the bottom of the page, while the word that describes its sound is a part of the artwork. The book concludes with a colorful double-page spread that gives a few facts about the insects. With the exception of 2, all 13 bugs are shown to scale. Overall, the book, which could be described as a cross between the works of Denise Fleming and Lois Ehlert, does a nice job of attracting readers to the noisy, fascinating natural world.?Dawn Ibey, Vancouver Public Library, Canada
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Sturges's (Ten Flashing Fireflies) latest foray into the insect world never really takes wing. Woolly Bear, a stubby caterpillar sort, quietly searches high and low for a "snug place to sleep," but she can't escape the cacophony created by such buggy friends as cricket, deerfly and water bug. At last, Woolly Bear finds the perfect patch of leaves, and spins a bed from which she will emerge, amazingly transformed into a tiger moth. Sturges's slight and quiet story line is at odds with the laundry list of simplified bug behavior ("Some bumble," "Some bugs chirp") that buzzes around it. However an "About Bugs" final spread successfully blends succinct information and colorful fun facts. Making her picture book debut, Paley serves up outsize collages with in-your-face perspectives, graphically showcasing such onomatopoeic words as "whif-whaf," "zik" and "swak" to great effect. Her combination of cut-paper and sprayed paint virtually whirrs with life, and provides a pulsating energy that the text simply does not match. Ages 4-8.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.