The Whisper

I loved this book. It captures the power of imagination and the power of the words we use to shape our thoughts and our reality. At the end of the story a well known fable of Aseop is turned on it’s head and a sour fox wins some sweet grapes, because “she imagined her story differently.” The whisper itself – the girl’s subconscious? – reveals that one has the ability to create a desired outcome. It says, “Remember: beginnings, middles, and ends of stories can always be changed and imagined differently.” The illustrations are dreamlike and bursting with originality and imaginativeness.

When her teacher gives her a special collection of stories, the young girl in The Whisper is ecstatic, rushing home in order to enjoy them at her leisure. But although the book is beautifully illustrated, she is distressed to discover that it contains no words. "It's just not a book of stories, without any words, she thought." But then a whisper of encouragement comes her way, instructing her to supply her own words... and so begins a storytelling project in which the beautiful paintings inspire the girl to create her own tales...

A gorgeous book, both visually and textually, The Whisper is a tribute to the beauty and strength of words, the power of storytelling, and the capacity of art to stir the imagination. This is a rich book, one show more which rewards rereading, as there are so many details of both art and story that might be lost at first, but which add to the reader/peruser's pleasure. I loved the fox character - no surprise there, given my personal and research interest in all things vulpine - and came away wondering whether it was the fox who was the source of the whisper which encourages the girl. Certainly, it is she (the fox) who is looking in the window when the girl hears the whisper. However that may be, the fox runs like a thread throughout the tale, appearing on almost every page, and offering a revised retelling of the classic Aesopian fable of The Fox and the Grapes as the conclusion of the story here. Of course, there are many such threads, and the beauty of Pamela Zagarenski's book is that it is for the reader to choose the thread that speaks most to them, and follow it through the book. Recommended to anyone who appreciates beautiful picture-book art, or who is looking for more thoughtful picture-book stories. show less

Not a traditional story book, which might frustrate some. A little girl borrows a book of stories from her teacher, but the words fall out on her way home. She loves the beautiful pictures but is discouraged until a voice whispers that she can make up her own stories to go with them. As she studies the pictures again (we see her in the corner of each spread and can see that the pictures she's looking at are the same ones we're seeing), she creates a title and a sentence or two to begin. Each sentence trails off...leaving an opportunity for the reader/child being read to to continue the tale. The girl falls asleep imagining stories and is late for school...but when a kind fox returns the lost words, the girl agrees to help her get reach show more some grapes before going on to tell the teacher all the stories she's invented. On the last page is a very short retelling of Aesop's "The Fox and the Grapes" (the origin of the fox in our book), in which the clever fox, instead of giving up and grumbling, imagines a different story for herself.

Beautifully illustrated (because I am nothing if not shallow about my picture books) and with plenty of excellent opportunities for children to stretch their imaginations! show less

A little girl's teacher lets her borrow a magical book of stories. On the girl's way home, the words flow out of the book (and are captured by a clever fox with a net). At home, the little girl is distraught to find the beautiful pictures with no words to go with them, but a small whisper suggests "You can imagine the words. You can imagine the stories."

What follows is a series of beautiful illustrations, accompanied by the stories the girl makes up for each one (see also: Harris Burdick by Chris Van Allsburg). The girl imagines a story for each page. On her walk to school the next day, she meets the fox, who offers her the bag of words; in exchange, she helps him reach some grapes on a tree. The final endpaper is a revised version of show more "The Fox And The Grapes."

A gorgeously illustrated exercise in imagination and storytelling. show less

This is yet another stellar book with images that pull you in to the beauty on each page.
In this story, in school, a little girl spies a lovely book high up on a shelf. When asked what is in the book, the teacher tells her it is magical. As she walks home, the words in the book fly in the air and land in the net of a fox.

As the girl opens the book at home, she and finds a quiet place to read. And, as she opens page after page there are beautiful images with each page more beautiful than the last. But, there are NO words.

As the girl continued to enjoy the images, she heard the wind outside her bedroom. The wind blows, and carefully as she listens there is a small sounding whisper. And, it is the whisper that tells her the beauty of show more words can be found inside her and her imaginings will take her to magical places.

As she listens to the whisper, she is able to listen to the story she makes to match the pictures.

The blue bear surrounded by bees visits on the first day of spring, then the whispering voice and she again notes a rabbit and a fox on each page as page, one, then another can be filled with the words of her own story, of adventure and the hundred mile journey begins with the fox, an elephant and a lovely lion.

And so, with one word followed by another and another, an entire magical story is imagined. As the morning arrives, and as she walks to school, a fox hands her a bag of words that the fox collected at the beginning of the story.

The photos, the story, all of it is sheer magic. But, most importantly, this is a beautiful book of the power of imaging and the use of words. show less

An illustrated fable about imagination and stories. The pretty art is collage like and idiosyncratic but I wasn't totally charmed and I found the ubiquity of crowns odd and distracting.

Extraordinary images and a very imaginative story to go with it. Beautiful, mysterious, requires the reader to tell the story.