Written and Illustrated by Susan Gal
This is a simple but enveloping story of a family’s hiking trip in the mountains. The evocative digital collage work really brings out the feel of being in the outdoors, and simultaneously looks like a mash-up of classic national park posters. From the title onward there is a lot of playfulness with prepositions in the text (they are all highlighted with different font colors from the rest of the text), which would make this book useful for teaching about that part of speech. The fun perspective changes and unwritten visual counterpoint of the bear, fox, and other creatures participating in the outdoor adventure will send young readers looking in the illustrations for more details. This is a deceptively simple book that rewards careful attention and repeated readings/viewings, and makes this reader want to go on a family adventure in the wild.
Review by Joshua Whiting, Granite Library Media Program
Rating: ★★★★½ (4.5 stars)
Interest Level: Grades PreK-2
Into the Outdoors
Written and Illustrated by Susan Gal
Alfred A. Knopf Books for Young Readers
40 pages
Release Date: October 11, 2011
ISBN: 9780375869587 (hardcover)
I have a copy of this book to give away! Leave a comment on this post by Jan. 20, 2012 if you would like a chance to win it for your school. Thanks.
I would love to have this book in our library.
From reading the review, I would be excited to share this book with our students. They love to look at the illustrations and find out if there is more to the story than the words are telling. Looks great!
This book sounds awesome. We would love a copy for our library.
Congrats, you are the winner of the drawing. Thanks for looking.
I love when I reach the end of a picture book and I want to go back to the beginning and start over so do the classes I read to, and they are not afraid to ask… Also it’s a bonus when a great picture book is also a “sneeky” teaching tool. I am looking forward to reading and rereading this book.
The book just arrived. It’s great! Thanks so much!