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Item Barcode | Collection | Call Number | Status | Item Holds |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 33607003460980 | Picture Books | FOGLIANO | Searching... Unknown | Searching... Unavailable |
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Summary
Summary
A breathtaking picture book about the relationships we share from New York Times bestselling storytellers Julie Fogliano and Loren Long in the tradition of The Runaway Bunny and Guess How Much I Love You .
if i was the sunshine
and you were the day
i'd call you hello!
and you'd call me stay
if you were the winter
and i was the spring
i'd call you whisper
and you'd call me sing...
Through clever, thought-provoking verse and warmly evocative art, New York Times bestsellers Julie Fogliano and Loren Long explore the awe-inspiring nature of relationships, love, and connection.
Author Notes
Julie Fogliano is the New York Times bestselling author of And Then It's Spring and If You Want to See a Whale as well as the poetry collection When Green Becomes Tomatoes and the picture books If I Was the Sunshine , My Best Friend , and When's My Birthday . Recipient of the 2013 the Ezra Jack Keats award, her books have been translated into more than ten languages. Julie lives in the Hudson Valley with her husband and three children. When she is not folding laundry or wondering what to make for dinner, she is staring out the window waiting for a book idea to fly by.
Loren Long illustrated President Barack Obama's Of Thee I Sing ; the newest version of The Little Engine that Could by Watty Piper; Madonna's second picture book, Mr. Peabody's Apples ; Nightsong by Ari Berk; Frank McCourt's Angela and the Baby Jesus ; Love by Matt de la Peña; and If I Was the Sunshine by Julie Fogliano. He also wrote and illustrated the Otis series and was part of the Design Garage for Jon Scieszka's Trucktown series. Loren's work has appeared in Time , Sports Illustrated , Forbes , The Wall Street Journal , and The Atlantic . He lives with his wife and two sons in Cincinnati, Ohio. Visit him at LorenLong.com.
Reviews (2)
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 1-A farm is the setting for a fanciful dialogue between a mother and daughter that occurs over the span of a day. The duo appears at the beginning and conclusion, viewed mostly at a distance or from behind. The one close-up reveals a girl with dark, straight ponytails, her face golden from the illumination of fireflies. Each conversational segment spans two spreads; the fourth (last) line, appearing after the pause of the page turn, rhymes with the second. Some ideas are imaginative and abstract: "if i was the silence/and you were a sound/i'd call you missing/and you'd call me found." Others are tangible and humorous: "if i was an apple/and you were a worm/you'd call me lunch/and i'd call you squirm." The dance of words and pictures is lovely, although it is curious that Fogliano abandoned the subjunctive mood in a book about "ifs." Long's acrylic paintings, some recalling the patchwork landscapes of Grant Wood, will show well with groups. Large figures fill the foreground, from a dappled cow whose bulk crosses the gutter to a hibernating grizzly bear spilling out of the verso, his frame pushing a field of snow up toward the heavens like a too-small blanket. VERDICT The creative use of language and accessible, pleasing imagery will lead to rereadings, which in turn, will inspire listeners to invent their own playful verses.-Wendy Lukehart, District of Columbia Public Library © Copyright 2019. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
"If i was the sunshine/ and you were the day," Fogliano (A House That Once Was) writes, "i'd call you hello!/ and you'd call me stay." Each stanza of this lilting poem imagines a pair of partners in the natural world-winter and spring, thunder and cloud-and gives them the power to speak and to name each other: "i'd call you whisper/ and you'd call me sing." To bestow a special, private name upon something draws the named closer to the namer, and each appellation echoes the intimacy shared by the poem's speaker and the entity being addressed. Long (Love) begins the story on a farm, with a long view of a figure in overalls and a child holding hands, surrounded by the warmth of a summer morning. But he doesn't stay focused on them. Instead, he pulls back, surveying the wilderness beyond the farm in spring, beneath a storm, and under snow before returning to farmland in summer dusk. Elements of the landscape (the mountains, the ocean) and the creatures that inhabit it (bear cubs, squirrels) are seen interacting in ways that mirror the relationships described in the poem. The word love never appears in Fogliano's text, but it can be felt on every page. Ages 4-8. Agent: Steven Malk, Writers House. (May) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.