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February 3, 2011 by Travis Jonker

Review: Where’s Walrus? by Stephen Savage

February 3, 2011 by Travis Jonker   6 comments

Where’s Walrus?
By Stephen Savage
Scholastic Press
ISBN: 9780439700498
$16.99
Grades PreK-1
In Stores

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*Best New Books*

Simple gets a bum rap. Simple is difficult. Simple is complicated. Take picture books. When a story is boiled down to 32 pages and even fewer illustrations, there is no room for error. And if the text is removed? We’re talking a tightrope walk’s worth of difficulty. A book can flounder, or in the much rarer instance, succeed in a manner that makes the whole thing seem like no sweat. Such is the case with Stephen Savage’s delightful Where’s Walrus?. You’ll be hard-pressed to find someone immune to the considerable charms of this wordless picture book. Young readers will flock.

When an open gate allows Walrus to escape from his tank, the zookeeper searches high and low to find him. Each two-page spread highlights a different location – water fountain, storefront, restaurant, etc. Each time Walrus humorously blends into the surroundings to evade capture. But when the zookeeper finally finds his escaped charge delighting an audience with amazing high-platform dives, Walrus returns to the zoo – this time as the featured attraction.

The illustrations are the definition of retro bold – simple and clear. White space plays an important role, focusing the reader’s attention and allowing Where’s Walrus? to work well at read-aloud distance.

Where’s Walrus? is a crowd-pleasing testament to the beauty of simple. Be sure to add this to your shelf.

Watch the Where’s Walrus? book trailer:

Find this book at your local library with WorldCat.

Filed under: *Best New Books*, Reviews

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About Travis Jonker

Travis Jonker is an elementary school librarian in Michigan. He writes reviews (and the occasional article or two) for School Library Journal and is a member of the 2014 Caldecott committee. You can email Travis at scopenotes@gmail.com, or follow him on Twitter: @100scopenotes.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Michele says

    February 3, 2011 at 9:50 am

    That was the first book trailer I ever bothered to watch, so thank you! This book looks adorable.

  2. Tanya says

    February 3, 2011 at 5:20 pm

    I’ve read this book four times now at story time at the bookstore where I work and it is excellent! You are so right, simple is not easy. Kevin Henkes’ A GOOD DAY is the paragon of Simple-But-Not-Easy. It is kind of tricky to read, as there are no words, but the kids really get into the spirit of it. Thanks for sharing.

  3. Zoe says

    February 5, 2011 at 2:49 am

    Love the look of this! And the illustrations look like they would make lovely posters too.

  4. Lisa says

    February 6, 2011 at 11:08 pm

    Hilarious! And what a clever book trailer…

Trackbacks

  1. Tweets that mention Review: Where’s Walrus? by Stephen Savage -- Topsy.com says:
    February 3, 2011 at 3:58 am

    […] This post was mentioned on Twitter by John Schu, RA/Collections Stuff. RA/Collections Stuff said: Review: Where’s Walrus? by Stephen Savage: Where’s Walrus? By Stephen Savage Scholastic Press ISBN: 97804397004… http://bit.ly/hPiyop […]

  2. Book Review: Where’s Walrus? by Stephen Savage « Waking Brain Cells says:
    July 29, 2011 at 3:38 pm

    […] 100 Scope Notes […]

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