Not a Stick

by Antoinette Portis, Antoinette Portis (Illustrator)

Overview

In this follow-up to the "New York Times" bestseller "Not a Box," a plain old stick leads to new worlds of play and wonder, where nothing is as ordinary as it seems. Full color.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780061123252
Publisher:	HarperCollins
Publication date:	12/26/2007
Series:	Not a Box
Pages:	32
Sales rank:	71,851
Product dimensions:	9.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.25(d)
Age Range:	3 - 6 Years

About the Author

Antoinette Portis is the author and illustrator of the international bestseller Not a Box (a New York Times Best Illustrated Book and a 2007 Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book), Not a Stick, A Penguin Story (also chosen as a New York Times Best Illustrated Book), and many more books for children. She attended the UCLA School of Fine Arts and is a former creative director at Disney. Antoinette lives in Southern California.

Antoinette Portis is the author and illustrator of the international bestseller Not a Box (a New York Times Best Illustrated Book and a 2007 Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Book), Not a Stick, A Penguin Story (also chosen as a New York Times Best Illustrated Book), and many more books for children. She attended the UCLA School of Fine Arts and is a former creative director at Disney. Antoinette lives in Southern California.

Editorial Reviews

Where Portis's Not a Boxfeatured a plain brown wrapper, this winning sequel proffers a faux wood-grain cover. And where the earlier title featured a deceptively boxlike, hollow rectangle (which an inventive rabbit treated as a rocket or a race car), this follow-up introduces a little pig holding a long, forked object. An unenlightened voice offstage suggests, "Hey, be careful with that stick." The pig corrects the false impression ("It's not a stick") and demonstrates the item's many uses. Portis traces pig and plaything in a heavy black line on negative space, then superimposes jaunty blue line drawings that act as overlays to reveal the pig's imaginings. The pig stands astride the stick, and a rearing horse shape appears. The pig holds the stick at its midpoint and it becomes a paintbrush, aiming toward Vincent van Gogh's Starry Night. Where the offstage warnings appear in white italics on a gray ground, implying a drab rejection of fantasy ("Watch where you point that stick"), the pig's statements are printed against a deep and dreamy blue. Portis repeats her previous formula down to the conclusion, where the pig calls the DIY toy "my Not-a-Stick!," once again appealing to those who think outside the box. Ages up to 6. (Jan.)

Copyright 2007 Reed Business Information

Publishers Weekly

PreS-Gr 1
Portis follows up on her successful Not a Box (HarperCollins, 2007) with equally pleasing results. Young listeners will be treated to the imaginative world of a charmingly minimalist pig who appears to be holding an ordinary stick. Following each admonition, "Hey, be careful with that stick," the youngster insists on the following spread that "it's not a stick." Its true nature is then dramatically revealed through clever illustrations. Morphing from a fishing pole to a drum major's baton, a paintbrush, a barbell, a horse, a spear, and finally to a sword, this "Not-a-stick" is clearly a powerful key to other worlds. Portis's simple color palette and playful drawings with never a line out of place represent the best in children's illustration. Perfect for sharing aloud, Not a Stick will inspire youngsters to look for the magic in ordinary objects.
—Jayne DamronCopyright 2006 Reed Business Information.

School Library Journal