Everywhere, Wonder

by Matthew Swanson, Robbi Behr (Illustrator)

Overview

“Open your eyes and open your window and let your story out into the world. It is a little gift from you to me.”

In this heartfelt picture book, readers are taken on a stunning journey into the imagination of a young boy—who explores everything from the pyramids of Egypt to a dusty footprint on the moon—and then back out again to the wonderful world right in front of him. From a lost balloon to an endless road, there are stories to discover, to dream about, and to share.

Everywhere, Wonder explores the wonder in the world, while encouraging young minds to discover the extraordinary in the ordinary, and creatively share their stories with others.

An Imprint Book

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781250087959
Publisher:	Imprint
Publication date:	02/07/2017
Pages:	48
Sales rank:	664,819
Product dimensions:	10.20(w) x 10.20(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	3 - 6 Years

About the Author

Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr are the author/illustrator, husband/wife duo behind Babies Ruin Everything (Imprint, 2016), Ten Thousand Stories (Chronicle Books, 2013), and more than sixty illustrated books for children and adults. They run two small publishing companies and a letterpress shop out of their Maryland home/barn/studio, teach and speak on creativity and collaboration, and have three small-but-obstreperous children.

Editorial Reviews

12/12/2016
From the husband-and-wife team behind Babies Ruin Everything comes a sweeping exploration of imagination, appreciation, and possibility. A curly-haired boy with brown skin invites children to follow his lead and find their own story, one that lies in noticing and recognizing the beautiful, interesting things the world has to offer. “So keep your eyes wide open as you go,” he advises, sharing his own catalogue: “In Egypt, there are pyramids.... In Alaska, there are cold, wet waters filled with seals and sockeye salmon.... In Sheboygan, there is a tractor mechanic named Shirley who has thirty-seven friends.” The boy also notes that wonders can be found close to home: a blue balloon caught in a tree, an unusual looking soup noodle, or a glass doorknob that “makes rainbows when the reading lamp clicks on.” Peppered with questions and comments, Swanson’s narrative initiates a thought-provoking conversation with readers, and Behr’s digitally assembled watercolors create a dreamy mood. Her vibrantly hued scenes of lush jungles, dry savanna, and roads “that somehow never seem to end” paint a vivid portrait of the world’s diversity. Ages 3–7. Agent: Meredith Kaffel Simonoff, DeFiore and Company. (Feb.)

Publishers Weekly

Swanson's fanciful and whimsical exploration of the meeting of imagination and story is strengthened by the jewel-toned colors and sheer scope of Behr's illustrations.” —Kirkus Reviews

"A sweeping exploration of imagination, appreciation, and possibility."—Publishers Weekly

"A tribute to the power of imagination awaiting those who are open to the marvels that surround them." School Library Journal

Babies Ruin Everything:

"Babies Ruin Everything speaks to that older brother or sister, telling them, simply: 'I hear you. This is hard' This is a wonderfully empathetic and funny book that doesn't talk down to older siblings and their real struggles having their world turned upside down. I love my little sister, but if I was still three, I'd probably be trying to sell her to you." —Kate Beaton, author and illustrator of The Princess and the Pony, and the #1 New York Times bestseller Hark! A Vagrant

The Real McCoys:

"This clever, funny, delightful book is just what this crazy world needs. The surprising and inventive interaction between text and illustration shows that two brains are, indeed, better than one—especially when they belong to Matthew Swanson and Robbi Behr." —Andrea Beaty, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Ada Twist Scientist

From the Publisher

12/01/2016
K-Gr 2—Pyramids, blue balloons, beautiful things of wonder—this title speaks to the power of the imagination, starting with an open book, a shared story, a "little gift from me to you." As a young boy reads, he begins a journey—from the Egyptian pyramids to the canyons of Arizona and through Brazilian jungles; Japanese gardens; the savannas of Kenya; the salmon-filled waters of Alaska; the storms of the Coral Sea; the surface of the moon; the farms of Sheboygan, WI; and the white solitude of the North Pole. Slipping in and out of his thoughts, blue balloons are like wonders yet to be found and moments of inspiration and dreams. "You never know what you might see…so keep your eyes wide open as you go." As the boy presses his nose to windowpanes, his cartoon smile follows the balloons. A colorful collection of water-washed digital collage images join descriptive prose to invite readers and dreamers to embark on the adventure and share their own tales. VERDICT A tribute to the power of imagination awaiting those who are open to the marvels that surround them. Best reserved for one-on-one sharing.—Mary Elam, Learning Media Services, Plano ISD, TX

School Library Journal

2016-12-06
A picture-book call to dream and to create. Swanson's fanciful and whimsical exploration of the meeting of imagination and story is strengthened by the jewel-toned colors and sheer scope of Behr's illustrations. Written in second person, the text encourages the brown-skinned child protagonist—along with readers—to remember and to notice in order to discover ever more stories and go on more flights of the imagination. But it's when the illustrations marry the text, taking readers to such disparate places as the Coral Sea, the near side of the moon, Sheboygan, and Kenya, that the book shines. At times facile, Swanson's words work better when actually showing rather than telling readers that "wonders…are interesting [and] beautiful." It's in the specifics of the wonders described—"a blue balloon that must have slipped from someone's fingers"—and in the buoyant illustrations that this book holds and shares its joy—and that it succeeds. The strongest illustrations are those that play with negative space, as when a polar bear wanders off the ice and into the child's white-walled room, the one blending seamlessly with the other. A journey of the imagination, the book could be of use as a teaching tool to encourage budding writers and creators to notice and imagine stories based on both what they know and what they dream of. Whether this has children writing their own stories or not, its expansive exhortation should definitely get them noticing. (Picture book. 4-8)

Kirkus Reviews