Publisher's Weekly Review
In this high-concept, image-focused picture book, Caldecott Honoree Willems explores the fundamentals of so-called opposites and playfully interrogates nonfigurative images' associations. His tools are 18 high-contrast abstract paintings in acrylic and ink--one per spread but clearly paired--and a series of attendant yes-or-no questions. "Is this soft?" accompanies an image of curvilinear, interlocking shapes in black, blue, gray, red, and yellow; a page turn later, the question "Is this hard?" abuts a picture of the same colors arranged into a sharp-edged geometric pattern. Though early images seem to largely concur with their listed descriptors ("Is this dark?" appears beside a dim painting), some of the pairs--"intentional" vs. "accidental" and "broken" vs. "fixed," for example--are sure to raise philosophical questions about the terms' essential definitions. If expressions such as "mechanical" (the image resembles a circuit board) and "organic" (floating biomorphic shapes nod to Miro) may be a touch conceptual for the stated age range, readers aren't likely to mind. This subtle, mind-expanding volume takes a familiar format to new places while showing how creators and readers meet on a page. Ages up to 2. Agent: Marcia Wernick, Wernick & Pratt. (Oct.)
