The Red Book

The Red Book. Barbara Lehman. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 2004. 28 pages. $12.95 (Hardcover). ISBN 0-618-42858-5. Grades PreK- 2.

It’s a snowy day in the big city and something red is peeking out of the snow. A little girl stops to examine the item and clutches what turns out to be a book to her chest. As she opens her new prize she discovers a little boy unearthing a similar treasure on a sandy beach. When he pries open the cover of his book he sees the little girl’s city. Their mutual surprise is priceless and an adventure to join each other commences. Barbara Lehman uses colorful illustrations to tell a story without a need for words. She plays with reality, far away places, impossibilities, and the unknown of the future. Readers will pay closer attention to the trinkets on the side of the roads after reading this tale in hopes that they too can experience an adventure. Recommended

My Thoughts…

I have only discovered wordless picture books in the last year or so, but I adore them. I have read some where the art work has been phenomenal, award winning even, and others that have just been okay, yet I am always appreciative of what I see. The Red Book, for example, is an adorable story with a great ending that leaves the future in the mind of the reader. The pictures, however, did not do anything for aesthetically. I couldn’t actually tell that the first child is a girl (until I read a review somewhere).The thing about that is that it didn’t make a difference to the story. The red book, the simple object is the only thing that really matters. I loved how there was a story within the book that was in a book. I liked how the book was a mirror in to another person’s world and vice versa. I loved the images that showed the zooming in on the particular moment when the children see each other. I think the moment when they share the same facial expression is timeless. I really liked the idea about the balloons taking you to another world too, which gives the story a little more fantasy. I did find myself confused when she dropped the book however, I didn’t know if she was going to make it without her ‘map’ and was relieved to turn the page and see her approaching on the page of the book she dropped. It was a cute story, and I know kids will love it!

Potential Reaction…

I think that children will love this type of book, especially if they have never seen one before. I also think that they will like this story because it starts off as possible and then turns in to something magical and finally leaves them wondering about the future and what will happen next. I think that kids will love to look at every detail in ever frame and have a light bulb go off when they realize the two red books are linked. I do think it will take a little while for children to realize that is what is going on, but I think they will be fascinated when they do. I do wonder if some kids will just pick up the book without trying to really read it and understand the story or if they will just make up their own. I would love to watch some kids look at a wordless picture book to see!

Reminds Me Of…

I don’t have too much experience with wordless books, but the ones that I have read I have found amazing. The first one that jumped in to my mind as I read The Red Book was Flotsam by David Wiesner. Not only is the format of the book similar, but the story as well. Rather than two children watching another at the same time, Flotsam shows a little boy finding a camera on the beach who has the film developed. As he examines the pictures he sees the history of the camera in each picture. The final image shows a child holding a picture of a picture, so he snaps one of himself in a similar fashion and throws the camera back in to the sea. Other wordless books that I have read that I would also recommend or that remind me of The Red Book are The Lion and the Mouse by Jerry Pinkney and Wave by Suzy Lee.