02/29/2016
A boy, a girl, and their cowboy-hat-wearing cat are en route to the playground, and their journey is anything but ordinary. Van Hout’s airy washes of paint create a landscape of mazelike paths for the children to traverse, which readers can trace with their fingers (red arrow icons on each page show the places to start and stop). The boy and girl use logs and lily pads to cross a river, make their way through a thicket of blackberry vines, and jump between pink clouds, accumulating a retinue of animals including a goat, fox, alligator, and deer. While readers may find some of the more complex paths slightly hard to track, the interactive, anything-can-happen nature of the trip all but begs for follow-up readings. Ages 3–6. (Apr.)
"A playful book about play. Text is subordinate to the compellingly vibrant, free-form pen, crayon, and watercolor illustrations in this highly original import from Dutch artist van Hout. The brightly colored endpapers and the instruction to “Find the way with your finger” give the first clue that this is actually a maze book, although it’s not described as such. The protagonists, a little white boy and girl and an orange cat, set off to find the playground. In this universe, it is better to travel than to arrive: the wild and wacky mazes they navigate—bright magenta and red dunes, blue swamp, berry-patch maze, cliff slide, mountain, puffy clouds, scary cave complete with bats and a multicolored monster—are infinitely more interesting than the conventional black-and-white swing set which rewards their efforts. On each bright spread, an increasing number of animals tags along, and the fox, goat, crocodile, ants, penguins, deer, and goat become part of the Greek chorus reacting to the relatively dull conclusion of the quest. Beautifully produced, with a humorous detail at every turn of the mazes, this book will give endless hours of point-and-trace fun to young children and their caregivers. The clever mazes encourage children to interact with the images every bit as meaningfully as with a digital medium." -Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review
"A boy, a girl, and their cowboy-hat-wearing cat are en route to the playground, and their journey is anything but ordinary. Van Hout’s airy washes of paint create a landscape of mazelike paths for the children to traverse, which readers can trace with their fingers (red arrow icons on each page show the places to start and stop). The boy and girl use logs and lily pads to cross a river, make their way through a thicket of blackberry vines, and jump between pink clouds, accumulating a retinue of animals including a goat, fox, alligator, and deer. While readers may find some of the more complex paths slightly hard to track, the interactive, anything-can-happen nature of the trip all but begs for follow-up readings." -Publishers Weekly
04/01/2016
PreS-Gr 2—Two kids and their cat use their imaginations to pass through a variety of different landscapes—some friendly, some not so much—on their way to the playground. The narrators speak directly to readers ("Let's go to the playground! Are you coming?") while mazelike illustrations and instructive text encourage viewers to find the way through each page with fingers; the title page states, "Red arrows on each page show you where to start and where to go next," though these instructions are easily missed. Vibrant, dreamy illustrations depict the imaginative scenes conjured up on each spread, and kids will enjoy inspecting humorous details; on one page, the cat grumpily watches as his hat is used for blackberry collecting. The follow-along concept works more successfully on some pages than others, but lively sentences make this a fun book to act out, especially in a storytime. Beautiful colors and surreal settings clearly indicate the protagonists' fanciful creations, and they so enjoy exploring their whimsical world that when they finally arrive at their destination, they exclaim, "Let's go back!" VERDICT While the interactive elements may not be as successful as those in Hervé Tullet's Press Here or Christie Matheson's Tap the Magic Tree, this title offers plenty of fun in a lovely package.—Kelsey Johnson-Kaiser, La Crosse Public Library, WI
★ 2016-02-02
A playful book about play. Text is subordinate to the compellingly vibrant, free-form pen, crayon, and watercolor illustrations in this highly original import from Dutch artist van Hout. The brightly colored endpapers and the instruction to "Find the way with your finger" give the first clue that this is actually a maze book, although it's not described as such. The protagonists, a little white boy and girl and an orange cat, set off to find the playground. In this universe, it is better to travel than to arrive: the wild and wacky mazes they navigate—bright magenta and red dunes, blue swamp, berry-patch maze, cliff slide, mountain, puffy clouds, scary cave complete with bats and a multicolored monster—are infinitely more interesting than the conventional black-and-white swing set which rewards their efforts. On each bright spread, an increasing number of animals tags along, and the fox, goat, crocodile, ants, penguins, deer, and goat become part of the Greek chorus reacting to the relatively dull conclusion of the quest. Beautifully produced, with a humorous detail at every turn of the mazes, this book will give endless hours of point-and-trace fun to young children and their caregivers. The clever mazes encourage children to interact with the images every bit as meaningfully as with a digital medium. Thrilling. (Picture book. 2-5)
