Doors in the Air

by David Weale Narrated by Iambik Production

Overview

Doors in the Air is the story of a boy who is fascinated by doors. He marvels at how stepping through a doorway can take him from one world to another. He is especially enthralled by the doors of his imagination, which he refers to as "doors in the air." He delights in discovering that when he passes through these doors, he leaves behind all feelings of boredom, fear and unpleasantness.


Doors in the Air is a lilting journey through house doors, dream doors and, best of all, doors in the air.

Editorial Reviews

Tacoma School District #10

"A wonderful book that embraces a child's imagination...The illustrations are vivid and full of life."

Booklist

"Featuring a palette of rich reds, blues, and greens, many of Pratt's bright, double-page illustrations change scenarios with a flip of the page...The intrepid boy striding through one doorway after the next, with a friendly looking, long-necked bird in tow, just might inspire readers to start exploring their own worlds of fantasy."

Southwest Ohio and Neighboring Libraries (SWON)

"An absolutely beautiful book. The illustrations are done in acrylics in bold, vivid colors, that really catch your eye. The story itself is written in rhyme. Children would be able to relate to the story using their imaginations to experience what the boy in the story is feeling. This would be a great book for story times or classroom use."

www.spiritualityandpractice.com

"This enchanting book...rejoice[s] in the imagination of a little boy and his capacity to see a world abounding in wonders."

Tucson Unified School District

"The illustrations are bright and colorful, and add much to the story, although it might be fun to read it to a group of students without the pictures, and have them write and draw their own ideas of what they might see through a door."

Quill & Quire

"Written in Seussian rhyming couplets...[and] employing alliteration that makes reading it aloud a pleasure...Doors in the Air is a fantastical triumph, celebrating the spaces in which the ordinary and the extraordinary intersect."

CM Magazine

"Pratt has contributed striking acrylic illustrations in vibrant shades. His plants and birds are exotic, his architectural detail unusual...Sure to be a hit at a storytime about expanding boundaries."

Montreal Review of Books

"A reflection on the richness that our imagination can bring to our lives. Illustrations in bright colors by international award-winning Pierre Pratt draw in the reader, and each page is filled with a fascinating variety of funky objects sure to incite lively discussion between reader and listener."

Resource Links

"Young readers...will enjoy seeing the fun ways children can use their imagination."

Booklist

"Featuring a palette of rich reds, blues, and greens, many of Pratt's bright, double-page illustrations change scenarios with a flip of the page...The intrepid boy striding through one doorway after the next, with a friendly looking, long-necked bird in tow, just might inspire readers to start exploring their own worlds of fantasy."

spiritualityandpractice.com

"This enchanting book...rejoice[s] in the imagination of a little boy and his capacity to see a world abounding in wonders."

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 2—Though it begins as a detailed description of an ordinary house, "There's an attic for trunks... /There are bedrooms and halls/Ceilings and floors...," this story-in-verse quickly transforms into a paean to the metaphorical doors of one's imagination. The narrator, an unnamed boy, leaves his mundane bedroom (through a door, of course) and journeys into a series of imaginary landscapes, praising the doors' amazing ability to transport him to surprising places all the while. A bit of nonsense verse is thrown in for good measure: "Oh sesame, sesame/Wrinkles and recipes/Tickedy, tackedy, tock!" Painted in a cartoon, stylized manner, Pratt's bright acrylic spreads delight with vivid greens, reds, and blues. The content of the illustrations, however, does not quite match the colors in exuberance. Unlike, say, the wild imaginings of Dr. Seuss, the depiction of the fantasyland here is spare and somewhat understated. A few flying fish, a tiny elephant, and an odd-looking flamingo-esque bird are some of the more whimsical details. Mildly charming but not essential.—Yelena Alekseyeva-Popova, formerly at Chappaqua Library, NY

Kirkus Reviews

A small boy muses on the power of imagination to carry you away from ordinary life. After enumerating usual features of his home--roof, walls, beds, tables, brooms, books and hooks--the narrator reveals his fascination with doors. "Doors open wide / To let me pass through / Like rain down a spout / Or smoke up a flue." Pratt's quirky acrylic paintings (new illustrations for a text first published in 2008) show a sharply angular house and a variety of commonplace objects. They also introduce the imaginary creatures that accompany the narrator on his journey: a small stuffed elephant, a red, white and blue bird, a goldfish and a fanciful, ostrich-like creature. A wordless double-page spread halfway through the tale shows them escaping into the world of imagination. Rhyming, rhythmic quatrains become three-line stanzas: "You are, you see, / The silver key / To open up the lock." The dreamscape includes a jungle with oversize plants, a rounded castle, a passage with keyhole-shaped windows, a page of colorful doors and a flying carpet, which brings the boy home. A magical incantation is repeated: "Oh sesame, sesame / East of me, west of me / Sesame, sesame, snap!" Surreal in its effect, this celebration of the creative mind encourages young readers and listeners to open doors of their own. (Picture book. 4-8)

Product Details

BN ID:	2940175009843
Publisher:	Orca Book Publishers
Publication date:	05/01/2012
Edition description:	Unabridged
Age Range:	8 - 11 Years

Read an Excerpt

Doors, doors
That's all I know
Look for the doors
Wherever you go

Just close your eyes tight
And reach out your hand
Then slip through a door
To a faraway land

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