Have a Look, Says Book.

by Richard Jackson, Kevin Hawkes (Illustrator)

Overview

Soft kittens, wooly socks, soggy mittens, fleecy flocks—this pictorial celebration of things tactile explores how what we touch touches us.

There’s a reason why toddlers put everything (or so it seems) into their mouths—it’s how they understand it…with grabby hands, open mouths, and…here…open book.

In Take a Look, Says Book fleas seem to hop off one page, peas squish bean-bag flat on the next. The images seemingly come to life, just as so much comes to life within our imaginations through reading, and handling things with just the right touch.

From legendary editor Richard Jackson and phenomenally talented illustrator Kevin Hawkes, Have a Look, Says Book is a sweet celebration of the ways we discover new things, through touch, through books.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781481421058
Publisher:	Atheneum/Caitlyn Dlouhy Books
Publication date:	04/12/2016
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	9.30(w) x 11.00(h) x 0.50(d)
Lexile:	AD430L (what's this?)
Age Range:	3 - 7 Years

About the Author

Richard Jackson was a long-time editor at Atheneum Books for Young Readers and the critically acclaimed author of a number of books, including Have A Look, Says Book., illustrated by Kevin Hawkes, which Publishers Weekly proclaimed “a shoe-in for the bedtime rotation;” All Ears, All Eyes, illustrated by Katherine Tillotson; and This Beautiful Day, illustrated by Suzy Lee, which received three starred reviews.

Kevin Hawkes has illustrated more than forty books for children, included the New York Times bestseller The Library Lion, Weslandia, Michael Ian Black’s A Pig Parade Is a Terrible Idea, and Santa in Cincinatti. He lives in Southern Maine, where he can be found wandering aimlessly in his garden, unless forced indoors, where he creates imaginary landscapes with cobalt blue skies.

Editorial Reviews

★ 01/18/2016
A giant book and a larger-than-life armchair invite a father and daughter to read with them: “Hello there, says Chair. Have a look, says Book.” (The line shows up just in time to do double duty on the title page.) Seated in the armchair, the pair sails through the book’s cover and inside, where friendly animals and objects present themselves as things to be touched and felt: “I am furry, says Kitten,/ I am wooly, says Sock./ I am wet, says Mitten./ We are fleecy, says Flock (stock-still on a rock).” Hawkes’s (The Three Mouths of Little Tom Drum) droll, dreamy sequences play with scale as the girl peeks out of a giant sock, avoids drips from a colossal mitten, then perches on the tail of the y in “fleecy.” In his first book as author, longtime children’s editor Jackson’s jaunty, rhythmic verse draws readers in—it’s the kind of book that’s easy to memorize. “Comfy the one, cozy the pair,” the book concludes fondly as father and daughter float off into the night sky. “Toodle-oo, you two there.” A shoe-in for the bedtime rotation. Ages 3–7. (Apr.)

Publishers Weekly

In simple, effective rhyme, a variety of objects guide the reader through a wondrous world. A little girl and her father settle down in a comfy armchair with a book, until the book suggests they take a closer look. Soon the girl is zoomed inside the book and whisked away on a fantastical romp. She plays with sheep on a mountain—“We are fleecy says Flock (stock-still on a rock)”—and climbs toadstools with a gnome—“I am gnarly says Gnome (at home on a dome).” Various creatures and objects introduce themselves, but gradually they become less fantastical (“I am wizened says Wizard”) and more familiar (“I am hot says Cocoa”). “I am cozy,” Papa finally echoes to the girl. “How about you?” The gouache illustrations are playful and bright, and the text is an integral part of the design: a dripping mitten dangles off the end of the word “wet”; a sock and two balls of yarn make up the word “woolly”; and green lichen sprouts from a mossy trail. A whimsical exploration of imagination. — Maggie Reagan

March 1, 2016 - Booklist

In simple, effective rhyme, a variety of objects guide the reader through a wondrous world. A little girl and her father settle down in a comfy armchair with a book, until the book suggests they take a closer look. Soon the girl is zoomed inside the book and whisked away on a fantastical romp. She plays with sheep on a mountain—“We are fleecy says Flock (stock-still on a rock)”—and climbs toadstools with a gnome—“I am gnarly says Gnome (at home on a dome).” Various creatures and objects introduce themselves, but gradually they become less fantastical (“I am wizened says Wizard”) and more familiar (“I am hot says Cocoa”). “I am cozy,” Papa finally echoes to the girl. “How about you?” The gouache illustrations are playful and bright, and the text is an integral part of the design: a dripping mitten dangles off the end of the word “wet”; a sock and two balls of yarn make up the word “woolly”; and green lichen sprouts from a mossy trail. A whimsical exploration of imagination. — Maggie Reagan

March 1, 2016 - Booklist

★ 02/01/2016
PreS-Gr 2—Bright illustrations take readers, along with a girl and her papa in an oversize armchair, on a roller-coaster ride through the pages of a beckoning book. The book wants its visitors to look and listen, but, most importantly, it wants them to touch—to try to call forth a tactile experience through visuals and adjectives. "I am furry says Kitten./I am wooly says Sock./I am wet says Mitten./We are fleecy says Flock (stock-still on a rock)." Single- and double-page artwork done in gouache shows the girl and the furry kitten, who follows through the pages, interacting with each of the large objects suspended mostly in white space, giving the visuals an Alice in Wonderland spirit. Many of the adjectives themselves are part of the art and appear to have the texture they describe. Though some of the adjectives capture the essence of the nouns better than others, all are thought provoking. Nubbly knees? Barky trees? As the book winds down, describing cocoa and cake, Papa suggests a break, and the chair sails out of the other side of a very grateful book: "Thanks for the listen,/thanks for the touch,/thanks for the look,/thank you so much." VERDICT This celebration of sharing a book together encourages readers to think more about words and textures.—Julie Roach, Cambridge Public Library, MA

School Library Journal

2016-01-09
As a girl sits with her father reading a book, she goes on a fantastical adventure. The art and layout are unusual from the start. The text begins on the page facing the title page—"Hello there, says Chair," is printed above an inviting, overstuffed chair in a comfy nook, book on its cushion—and the title page itself continues the text. On the acknowledgment pages, a generic white man sits on Chair with book in hand, and a small white girl—apparently his daughter—climbs up beside him. Gentle rhymes continue the story, as the chair and its occupants glide into the book's world with "a look, a listen, // and a touch as such." There follow pages of whimsical paintings of the girl happily interacting with various objects, sometimes oversized, sometimes realistically sized, all of which are described with adjectives and some of which also include extra rhymes: "I am gluey says Snail / (with its tail in a pail.)" The adventures crescendo as the girl flies on a silky crow and sees a steamy "Loco" approaching. Papa suggests a break, and the pair enjoy cocoa and cake on Chair. The ending brings the energy down to a good place for bedtime. Art and text together are enjoyably quirky, but the connection of the girl's flights of fancy to the reading experience is a little hard to determine, given the frame story's similarity of tone to the accretion of objects and adjectives within. As a celebration of the codex, it is but one of many; as a celebration of the surreal, it excels. (Picture book. 3-6)

Kirkus Reviews