Woof Meow Tweet-Tweet

by Cécile Boyer (Illustrator)

Overview

How well do you really know what the differences are between a dog, a cat and a bird?

In this book, the magic of letters brings out the pictures. Words and sounds have taken the place of pictures to tell the inner story of dogs, cats, and birds, and their often hectic encounters.

A very funny story told in a graphically-arresting new way, Woof, Meow, Tweet-Tweet will charm readers of all ages.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781934734605
Publisher:	Seven Footer Entertainment LLC
Publication date:	05/01/2011
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	7.90(w) x 11.10(h) x 0.40(d)
Age Range:	3 - 8 Years

About the Author

Cécile Boyer is a graphic designer whose first job out of art school was helping to renovate the children's sections of the Cité des Sciences, a hugely popular science museum in Paris. Other projects have included textile design for children's wear and children's guides for a French contemporary art museum. She was born in Paris but spent a large part of her childhood in Tokyo. As a child, she loved visiting her grandfather in his modernist home in central Pennsylvania.

Editorial Reviews

French artist Boyer's volume is based on a single conceit: the representation of animals not with their forms but with words that spell the sounds they make. (Background objects—trees, houses, wineglasses—are depicted with simplified shapes in muted colors.) A "woof" in blocky brown uppercase letters protrudes from a doghouse, a "meow" in slate-gray lowercase letters lies on an armchair, and a delicate "tweet-tweet" perches on the swing inside a birdcage. "The bird does not like his cage," Boyer observes; the "tweet-tweet" rises overhead on the subsequent spread, "Because he is meant to fly high, high in the sky." The dog provides most of the comedy—in one spread, the letters of "woof" appear stacked up and sprawled out in different arrangements as the dog sits, begs, and lies down. As there's little story, the series of observations has a calming effect. And there's no sense of anything missing in this sprightly experiment in perception; the mind seems to supply images for the dog, cat, and bird even when they're not there. Ages 3–up. (May)

Publishers Weekly

K-Gr 2—Boyer investigates the habitats and activities of a dog, cat, and bird, calling on readers' imaginations by using onomatopoeia in the place of images while observing the animals' differences. Readers see a "WOOF" coming from a doghouse, playing with its master, chasing a ball, jumping for joy, and even peeing on a wall. "Meow" rests comfortably in a padded chair, leaps to a table, and—with feline grace—sidles effortlessly between goblets. "Tweet-tweet," unhappy in a cage, soars into the sky, "sings a happy song" in a tree's branches, leaves a messy "remembrance" on a hat, and meets with other tweet-tweets high on a wire. Halfway through the book, a new narrative follows the three through a possible encounter; an explosion of letters across the spread leaves readers to imagine fur and feathers flying. The book's unique juxtaposition of text, clean graphic images, and font changes might also encourage older readers, noting its text-as-art or perhaps a few new vocabulary words (e.g., "interior," "perched," "encounters"). This simple yet cleverly executed story can be used in multiple ways in various classes and individual settings.—Mary Elam, Learning Media Services, Plano ISD, TX

School Library Journal

The differences among three animals—a dog, cat and bird—are explored in this sophisticated concept book that replaces character drawings with text representations.

Appealing, Modernist illustrations create lovely vignettes for the protagonists, who are depicted by the sounds they make. Each animal is assigned a specific typeface, the size, color and placement of which are altered to emphasize the various traits and emotions of its owner. In a cage, the bird's "tweet-tweet" is small and controlled, but when he's free, his "tweet-tweet" runs broad and askew, soaring across the sky. Despite these text modifications, young readers may find it difficult to be continuously drawn to the personality or expressiveness of each character. Boyer tries to make up the difference with some playful potty jokes: "WOOF" tilts up against a brick wall, a trail of piddle coming from the "F." These may not be enough for the animal lover, who would prefer to see the majesty of an actual bird's wings in flight. However, the artwork is attractive. Flat shapes done in a sophisticated, Pantone-catalog palette lend to Boyer's hip and minimalist aesthetic. Her excellent graphic sensibility makes each spread worthy of a single print advertisement.

Winner of the Bologna Children's Book Fair 2010 Opera Prima Mention, this design exercise is notable. But while intellectuals and college design students may find it brilliant, children may not find it particularly gratifying. (Picture book. 4-7)

Kirkus Reviews