Arthur Geisert

Sexist language and imagery, particularly disappointing for a book that is not that old. Story about a pig family is described as the story of Mr. Pig and his wife. All characters *not* the mother or her daughters (all in dresses) are male: cops, robbers, etc. In one seen the daddy pig is in a classic male pose of worry about the family finances; the mommy pig is massaging / comforting him. These depictions of the classic patriarchal head-of-household dynamic and stereotype are at odds with show more what we're told of the rest of the story: a family business, possibility of family ruin. So this illustration jars one out of the narrative we're otherwise given.

I love Geisert's style, but wtf with the sexism? show less

I love this wordless picture book. The illustrator very effectively included small details in the illustrations to effectively tell a story and add meaning and detail to it. These small details convey important themes throughout the story that the reader can catch onto - for example, all the little pigs each doing different jobs says to the reader that working together gets a job done more efficiently. The story itself combined with the details included in the illustrations adds narrative show more elements and is open-ended enough that the reader can infer, predict and embellish. show less

Sweltering away on their island home, the pigs in this wordless picture-book hatch a plan to cool things down and replenish their water supply: head to the Arctic in their flying sailing ship, grab an iceberg, and tow it back home. And so it happens...

Part of Brooklyn-based publisher Enchanted Lion Books' "Stories Without Words" series, Ice is one of a number of porcine tales from artist Arthur Geisert. Although Geisert is American - I associate his work very much with the Midwest, where he show more lives, and which he frequently depicts - his wordless tale was first published in France, as Eau glacee. That in itself is quite interesting to me, leading me to wonder: was no American publisher willing to take a chance on it, originally? Whatever the case might be, I'm glad that Enchanted Lion decided to publish it here in the states! The artwork is charming, and full of detail - more than enough to carry the story along. Recommended to fans of wordless picture-books, as well as to those who admire Geisert's etching-style artwork. show less

This book is so cool! Geisert first explains and represents visually the Roman numbers I, V, X, L, C, and D using pigs. You really get a sense of the numbers from the scale of the images. He explains how the numerals work together, always with visual representations of the quantity. The book ends with several pages of illustrations with things to find and their quantity in Roman numerals, as a way to practice identifying the numerals and check your answer.