Undercover: One of These Things is Almost Like the Others

Undercover: One of These Things is Almost Like the Others by Bastien Contraire,

(Phaidon) HB RRP $29.95 ISBN 9780714872506

Reviewed by Stephanie Ward

Undercover is a wordless picture book that presents a series of similar illustrations on each two-page spread including one that doesn’t quite belong. Fun abounds as the search for the odd one out can sometimes be a both a challenge and a bit ironic – a plane among bugs, a sole egg in the midst of a dozen birds, a horse on a page of vehicles measured in horse-power.

Created by graphic designer Bastien Contraire, Undercover is a visually stunning, large format, hardcover book with green and pink duotone colours and graphic stencil artwork. This style creates a deceivingly consistent look among the various items creating a puzzling game of hide-and-seek. Children and adults alike are sure to find favourites among the clever collections of images inspiring conversations about various items.

Even after multiple reads, there is always something interesting to discover in this 64-page book. In addition to being entertaining, its contemporary appearance makes Undercover a coffee table worthy children’s book.

Now you See Me, Now You Don’t

Now you See Me, Now You Don’t by Silvia Borando (Walker Books)

HC RRP $17.99

ISBN 9781406364217

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

This superb wordless picture book for age 2+ is a seek-and-find book that will absorb and entertain beginners. Its eye-catching cover in teal is followed by vibrant full- colour pages. There are animals on every page but with each turn of the page, one or more are missing. The reader embarks on an adventure to discover which are missing from the page they are viewing. The only clue is a pair of eyes. The game is to whom do they belong?

There is a choice of elephant, crocodile, mouse, chicks and a mother hen, rhino, trees, a rabbit, a bird and a cat.

Counting can be encouraged in this educational journey through the animal parade. I can see very young children carrying this attractive book under their arm to bed for story time.

Near, Far

Near, Far by Silvia Borando (Walker Books)

HC RRP $17.99

ISBN 9781406363180

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

Released simultaneously with its companion book, Now You See Me, Now You Don’t, this very attractive wordless book for the very young offers joy and fun from its bright orange front and back cover to everything in between.

A crocodile, bird, rabbit, mouse, hedgehog, and rhino are the characters that fill and empty the vibrant coloured pages. It is a different game this time. Parts of the animal are shown on the page and the reader must guess or work out, which animal the part belongs to. These characters can be related back or forward to the ones in the companion book.

Silvia Borando has designed and created these books with developing minds as the target audience.  Interactive and entertaining like its partner, eye-catching colours are again at play and both books promise to bring a smile to the faces of early learners in a simple and challenging educational experience.

Footpath Flowers

Footpath Flowers by JonArno Lawson, illustrated by Sydney Smith (Walker Books)

HC RRP $ 27.99

ISBN 9781406362084

Reviewed by Anastasia Gonis

I love wordless picture books. They are like a search-and-find experience; a voyage of discovery. They allow the reader scope to expand their imagination and translate what they see.  It’s almost a create-your-own-story. If an adult feels this way, imagine how much children will get out of this book.

A girl is out with her father. He appears to be oblivious to what is going on around him. The girl seems to be just a tag-along.

She though, is alert and observant. While he is walking blindly towards his destination and talking on his mobile, the girl is taking in the world around her.

She collects colourful flowers growing from corners of the footpath, beneath poles where bikes are tied, from cracks in the walls and footpaths. She looks at coloured bottles, and sees the beauty in small things. Her bunch of flowers grows.

Till this point, the illustrations are all in black ink. The only colour is the girl’s coat and hood which is bright red, and the flowers which she clutches in her hand.

They enter a park. The trees are stark and bare. The girl sees a dead bird. She bobs down to look at it and places some of the flowers on its chest. Here the scene changes and colour enters the picture while the father and child are presented in dark shadow. The bird is in full colour. She has given the bird something of herself along with the flowers.

From this point on there is a great shift in the girl and the man. Colourful watercolour images spill onto the pages. They pass an old man sleeping on a bench. The girl leaves him flowers. She stops to pat a dog on the way and places flowers in his collar.

They are close to home. The change in the man is extraordinary. He has come home to his family. A woman waits at the door.  Children are in the yard. A baby is asleep in a pram. Flowers are everywhere.

The girl looks up at birds flying in the sky. She seems to be remembering the bird in the park. She’s holding one last daisy in her hand and appears to be overcome with sadness. All the things she’s encountered including the flowers are small like her.

This beautiful book by award-winning poet JonArno Lawson is illustrated by the highly talented Sydney Smith whose talent is obvious from the stunning cover and end papers. It tells of the joy found in random acts of kindness; in the small things around us, and the way children find beauty in the simplest things. It’s ideal for the 4+ years age group, adult and child sharing and discussion; and for collectors of outstanding picture books.

The Umbrella

The Umbrella by Ingrid and Dieter Schubert (Book Island)

HB RRP NZ$26.99

ISBN 9780994109859

Reviewed by Dianne Bates

Book Island which published this wordless picture book is a New Zealand-based publishing house with a bold dream of enriching children's and adults' lives in the English- and Dutch-language market. It does this by bringing unique stories from Europe to New Zealand, and then designs (and sometimes translates) and prints beautiful high-quality books.  Buzz Words has previously reviewed three books from Book Island and found all of these books to be of a high standard.

The front fly pages shows a small black dog watched by a cat as it discovers a red umbrella on a windy, autumn day. When the dog opens up the umbrella on the title page, he is pulled along and then (turning the page) he is whirled up into the leaf-filled air, a farm house (and the cat) far below. 

The rest of the story shows the dog high above clouds, flying above the savannah (and watched by African animals), into a desert, across a turbulent sea (the umbrella  as his boat) and into a jungle. Along the way he encounters danger – a half-circle of alligators, sea creatures (including a mammoth whale) and a village of natives who hurl spears at him. Luckily, the dog is rescued by a pelican which deposits him in a polar region. The journey continues as the dog passes seals, polar bears and a sky full of bats.

Eventually the dog and his umbrella are returned to whence they came. There the cat is still waiting; in the final fly page the dog is shuffling off, leaving the umbrella for the cat to find (and perhaps to have its own adventure).

As with all good picture books for young ‘readers’, there is plenty to see and talk about in this book, especially if a parent or other carer is sharing the book. At the end, the question might be ‘where will the cat and umbrella go next?’ The illustrations are colourful and accomplished with lots of energy and details for poring over. Many of the views are taken from above the land, looking down at the landscape (rivers, jungle, ocean and so forth). A wordless book like this allows much scope for a child to invent story and to use his imagination to extend the visual text. This book would likely appeal to children aged one to three years of age.