Grahame Baker

This British import is stunning! The cover and endpages dazzle the reader with splashes and drips of water, foreshadowing the journey of water that is to come. The story begins with a small, dark-haired boy, scooping up fish into a jar of water by a stream on the mountain. As it begins to rain, he pours his jar into the pool and runs home, following the water in the stream down to a waterfall and imagining the journey of his little jar of water...

The river flows on and the boy now appears on show more it in a small sailboat, wearing an orange life jacket. He follows the river as it widens, through farmland and into the city, where pipes drip dark sludge, boats move cargo, and someone leans out a window to feed the ducks. The river ends in the ocean, where Issac's small jar of water becomes part of water swallowed and ejected by a whale (that's an error - whales don't eject water but air, with droplets of, well, snot). Eventually, somewhere near a golden jungle where toucans rest, the water evaporates into mist then pours down as rain in a small, dry village. It joins another waterfall and returns to the sea, then finally, once more in the form of rain, it returns to the boy catching fish by a stream.

The illustrations glow and sparkle, from the deep, mysterious depths of the ocean to the light-filled sunrise by the jungle. The tiny image of Issac in his boat, set against the powerful rush of water, then returning to his own small stream, emphasizes the changing perspectives as the water travels throughout the story.

Verdict: While this isn't factually accurate (another point is the use of the word "steam" for vapor), the general trend is clear enough and the gorgeous illustrations make it stand out. Pair with a more accurate description of the water cycle (Miranda Paul's Water is Water or George Ella Lyon's All the water in the world) for an exploration of where water goes.

ISBN: 9781536205756; Published August 2019 by Templar/Candlewick; Borrowed from another library in my consortium show less

Using the text of the famous Christmas carol as a starting point, illustrator Grahame Baker-Smith creates an engaging little book in miniature here. Part of the Panorama Pops series, in which accordion-fold books, each containing numerous little pop-ups in their pages, and contained in small slip-cases, The Twelve Days of Christmas offers an entertaining, interactive presentation of the titular song.

I enjoyed this little volume, which I picked up mostly because of my yearly search for new show more (or new to me) picture-book presentations of the traditional Christmas carols. I'd seen some of these Panorama Pops titles around, but had never happened to open one before. I'm glad I finally did, as this was a little holiday treasure, with appealing artwork, and clever paper engineering. Recommended to anyone looking for holiday pop-ups, or for visual presentations of their favorite Christmas carol. show less

The art was beautiful, and the reason I picked it up, but the writing didn't quite engage me. I liked the concept and message, but words didn't really add anything to the illustration for me. I almost feel like it might have been more effective as just a visuals.

Definitely worth a read, and again, I thought the artwork was really special.

This picture book has breathtaking illustrations and an unexpectedly emotionally complex story.