03/03/2014
Displaying his signature sly humor, Burningham (Tug of War) follows a boy and girl (conveniently named Boy and Girl) as they try to find a place to picnic with friends Sheep, Pig, and Duck, who are dapperly accented with kerchiefs, hats, bowties, and other accessories. The five quickly hit a snag (“But they had not seen Bull”), and they race to the woods to hide from him. Burningham directly engages readers on multiple occasions through search-and-find questions, asking them to spot the would-be picnickers hiding behind trees and, subsequently, to find Sheep’s hat, Pig’s ball, and Duck’s scarf. The items are easy to spy, tailoring the challenge to younger preschoolers, while pithy sentences and easy-to-grasp vocabulary will help beginning readers sound out the sentences. Vivid, springy greens and yellows, coupled with loose and exuberant black outlines, lend vibrancy and airiness to Burningham’s paintings. As the day winds down and the weary cast retires for the night, a final question (“Shall we see if we can find your bed?”) offers a pointed lead-in to readers’ own bedtimes. Ages 2–5. (May)
A picture-book master presents an engaging feast of a bedtime book. Just as Boy and Girl pack their picnic basket with everything they’ll need for a perfect luncheon, Burningham packs every part of his book’s design with details that contribute to its success.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
Carefree sensibility and bucolic charm... Burningham’s trademark sketchy insouciance, with broken black outlines and dappled marker coloring, establishes a playful, sunny tone that’s perfect for a day in the spring-green countryside. The simple, jolly figures revel in spare, open vistas with plenty of space for listeners to accompany them, while the interactive hunt-and-seek game extends the fun for the story hour set. This one will find its way into the regular rotation in no time.
—Booklist (starred review)
A beautifully simple story of a girl, a boy, a duck, a sheep, and a pig at play. ... This lovely picture book is vintage Burningham and will appeal to the youngest of readers. The text is short and sweet with the illustrations providing the details. ... Reminiscent of a simpler day, this book is a breath of fresh air—a time out of a busy schedule to enjoy the beauty of a picture book with a young child.
—School Library Journal
Displaying his signature sly humor, Burningham follows a boy and girl (conveniently named Boy and Girl) as they try to find a place to picnic with friends Sheep, Pig, and Duck, who are dapperly accented with kerchiefs, hats, bowties, and other accessories. ... The items are easy to spy, tailoring the challenge to younger preschoolers, while pithy sentences and easy-to-grasp vocabulary will help beginning readers sound out the sentences. Vivid, springy greens and yellows, coupled with loose and exuberant black outlines, lend vibrancy and airiness to Burningham’s paintings.
—Publishers Weekly
The simplicity of the short, streamlined text and the large, clear illustrations make it easy to successfully share this with little ones. Direct addresses to the reader increase the interactivity... Burningham’s trademark lively and unaffected painting style continues here, with squiggly outlines, spots of bright color, and slightly mottled backgrounds adding vigor to the clean, open compositions; the nattily attired pig is particularly winning. ... Cheerful and entertaining, and parents will appreciate the sly segue into bedtime.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books
Lovely... Across airy pages filled with brightly accented drawings, the book follows a boy, a girl and a group of dapper animal friends on a lunchtime excursion to the countryside. With deceptive simplicity, the gentle story is full of age-appropriate satisfactions.
—The Wall Street Journal
A lyrical novel filled with magical realism.
—The Seattle Times
04/01/2014
PreS-Gr 1—A beautifully simple story of a girl, a boy, a duck, a sheep, and a pig at play. The human siblings live on top of a hill and set off one day for a picnic. At the bottom of the hill, Boy and Girl see their friends Duck, Sheep, and Pig and invite them along. An unexpected chase from a bull causes them to run into the woods. When it is safe to come out, they find the perfect spot for their picnic and frolic in the sun until it's time to head home. This lovely picture book is vintage Burningham and will appeal to the youngest of readers. The text is short and sweet with the illustrations providing the details. The large trim size and bright white pages make it great for sharing with preschoolers, allowing them to point out familiar sight words. Picnic has an interactive quality that encourages readers to find objects easily hidden in the pictures. Each painting is done in bold and bright colors that catch viewers' attention. Reminiscent of a simpler day, this book is a breath of fresh air—a time out of a busy schedule to enjoy the beauty of a picture book with a young child.—Amy Shepherd, St. Anne's Episcopal School, Middleton, DE
★ 2014-03-12
A picture-book master presents an engaging feast of a bedtime book. Just as Boy and Girl pack their picnic basket with everything they'll need for a perfect luncheon, Burningham packs every part of his book's design with details that contribute to its success. The front cover art introduces the protagonists, while the back depicts the anthropomorphic animal friends—Duck, Pig and Sheep—who join them. Open the book, and the bull that frightens them away from their first picnic site is charging forward on the front flap. Meanwhile, endpapers depict the many characters, places and props that appear in ensuing pages. This provides an "I spy" element to the design, reinforced by later pictures in which the characters lose various items and the text directly asks readers to find them hidden in the pictures. When the group finally does find "a good place to have their picnic," Burningham treats readers to a wordless double-page spread with generous white space at the top and a verdant, speckled ground on which the friends share their meal. After playtime, they head home to go to bed, and the text asks the reader, "Who is sleeping in which bed?" This leads to a final page that pulls no punches in its playful, direct statement: "Shall we see if we can find your bed?" A very good "good night." (Picture book. 2-5)
