The Nowhere Box

PreS-Gr 2—George has a little brother and an "even littler brother" and the tension with his siblings-which starts on the endpapers-is mounting. One of the little guys inadvertently knocks down his castle while the other derails his train. "George had had enough," and readers can see his frustration etched in a penciled scribble above his grimaced teeth while he tries to hide from their omnipresence. As they chase him in pursuit of play, they ask where he's going and he cries out, "Nowhere! And you can't follow me!" The artwork is sophisticated in its two-dimensional, contoured comic style as well as in the materials it utilizes. Speech bubbles made with notebook paper and torn cardboard pieces create painted collages full of movement and texture. Scratchy, heavy pencil lines balanced with bold and thin acrylic paint create richly expressive characters. When George finds the washing-machine box, he creates a getaway machine and travels to "Nowhere." He expresses his zeal with a flood of adjectives, yet despite his initial glee, he remembers the home button he drew on the dashboard. The discovery of the need for playing together balanced with the need to be alone and the role of the imagination in navigating these important social poles speaks to kids of a variety of ages. Pair this story with Matthew Cordell's Another Brother (Feiwel & Friends, 2012).—Sara Lissa Paulson, The American Sign Language and English Lower School, New York City