Toy Story, Too! Can You See What I See? Toyland Express by Walter Wick

Walter Wick is back, with toys sporting a fresh coat of paint and a jolly toy story to tell.

His just-published Can You See What I See?: Toyland Express: Picture Puzzles to Search and Solve (Scholastic, 2011), Wick provides much more than intriguing search-and-find puzzles to solve. The book is itself a toy story, recalling for young readers the premise of last year's movie, Toy Story III, as we see a wooden toy train, innocent of paint, a jumble of carefully crafted parts in the "Maker's Workshop," as readers are challenged to find "a pencil, a pail, a ball of string..." and other items. The next double-page spread offers a full-page picture of the train being painted, with more picture puzzles to spot, and, as in many of Wick's picture book creations, the "lens" zooms out to show the completed toy train the center of a "Toy Store" show window display, followed by "Happy Birthday Box," in which the boxed set of train, trees, and houses has just been unwrapped at a party.

In subsequent spreads we see the train set up ("All Aboard") and ready to go; traversing a carefully constructed tinker-toy trestle ("Mountain Pass"), and tootling past a fully-furnished doll house, just visible through the little dwelling's windows in "The Passing Train."

But the tale eventually turns wistfully tristful. The following spread shows the train and other toys "Forgotten" in the attic, some broken, all dusty and deserted as only cast-off toys can seem, lit only by a stray dust-mote-filled sunbeam streaming from the garret window. But this is not to be a sad, James Whitcomb Riley "Little Boy Blue" ballad, but a joyous story of toy resurrection, as the toys are sold at a "Yard Sale," and find their reincarnation in a happy "In For Repairs" workshop scene which recalls their beginnings, ending happily with the "Toyland Express," restored and repainted, back on track in a new and welcoming home.

Wick's books are a wonder, with educational activities and aesthetic mixed-media qualities that knock your socks off. Sly wit and humor permeate the work, textually and visually, especially in the partially concealed presence of Wick's iconic little wooden bead man, Seymour, (a bit of delicious wordplay in that name!) to be spotted on each picture page. Walter Wick & Co. is an industry all to itself. Wick, who seems to have found himself an enviable career in which he is allowed to create and to play with delightful toys, can be seen at work in his fabulous workshop here. Great for gifts, a must-have delight, a great entry in this genre.

Look Again! Treasure Ship (Can You See What I See) by Walter Wick

I SHALL RISE AGAIN!

Walter Wick's latest in his photo puzzle series, Can You See What I See?: Treasure Ship: Picture Puzzles to Search and Solve (Candlewick, 2011) is another masterpiece of photography, a gorgeous example of the visual puzzle virtually created by Wick and his former rhymester partner Jean Mazollo, and an all-around bit of picture book fun for all ages.

In this one we first see a closeup of a gold coin, "The Coin of the Bountiful," in which the reader is given a list of items on the coin to spot. The second spread shows this coin along with a golden cup, suggesting that both are part of a treasure trove.

In succeeding layouts, the "camera" zooms out, revealing the cup and coin as part of a pirate's treasure chest, which is in turn revealed to part of a shipwreck, then as part of a deep underwater seascape, then as a detail in a ship in a bottle, and thence part of window display of toys, trinkets, and tchotchkes, which is in turn revealed to be part of a seaside souvenir store.

In a continuing wide-angle view, Wick shows that the store is a ship-shaped replica of good ship Bountiful itself, with a porch-side display of postcards, on one of which the whole scene is reproduced. The final zoom out is too delicious a surprise to spoil, but suffice it to say the whole book is a joyful exploration of incredible detail within the framework of a photographic essay on the power of point of view in art. Wick is a wonderful artistic technician, working with digital photographs, an incredible assembly of objects in all sizes, carefully constructed miniature and full-sized sets, all put together with the eye of a master book designer. "Readers" can spend hours on this book and not see it all. Too good to miss!

Publishers Weekly asserts, "The entrancing, detail-rich visuals and ingenious twist will likely stir readers' imaginations." And that's an understatement.

In Plain View: Where's Walrus? by Stephen Savage

Just another daybreak at the zoo--the animals bored and motionless in their confines, a snoozing keeper sagging in his chair outside his guardhouse--but a with-it walrus in his pool is eying a serendipitously open gate.

In the turn of a page the walrus is out of there, and the rotund mustachioed guard, clutching a ineffectually small dog-catcher-type net, is in hot pursuit.

Where's Walrus?

Walrus, of course, is right there, motionlessly mimicking the entrance fountain's other stone mermaid, invisible to the hapless keeper.

The search goes on with the next turn of a page, where the walrus is invisible in plain sight, one of a row of gray-suited, black-derbied coffee drinkers seated on identical stools at the counter of mid-century diner. The keeper looks straight past him without recognition, while Walrus favors us with a gleefully conspiratorial look.

With each new page the walrus blends into the busy city scene--a line of identical hard-hatted bricklayers, one of three frou-froued mannikins in a millinery shop, a red-hatted firefighter bravely holding a spouting fire hose aimed at a conflagration, a high-kicking chorine in a musical hall revue, and one of a row of landscape painters at their easels in the park. In each scene our hero, so obviously a walrus, yet manages to blend in with the cookie-cutter forms of the people engage in daily activities in a static but vital cityscape.

The befuddled zookeeper grows more exasperated, and the walrus plainly enjoys his game of cat and mouse--until, hiding amidst a line of red-capped high divers, he just has to stand out from the crowd with an amazing double flip dive--and his cover is blown, just as the zookeeper suddenly sees, not just his quarry, but the possibilities of his talented charge. The final spread shows Walrus, back where he belongs, but with a high diving pool where his finally gets the attention he deserves.

Steven Savage's new Where's Walrus? (Scholastic, 2011) appears to be a simple picture puzzle book for small children, and it is. But its simple lines and flat color belie the retro sophistication of its Adobe Illustrator computerized art. Playfully spoofing the Where's Waldo? premise in his skillful manipulation of color, form, and line, Savage achieves just the right trompe l'oeil effect for his target audience with a touch of humor to please any age reader. A wordless picture book which is the last word.

Kirkus Reviews says "Refreshing, captivating, elegant and witty!"
Yeah. What he said.

Oh, Christmas Tree! I Spy A Christmas Tree by Jean Marzollo and Walter Wick

I SPY A TOP AND A CHRISTMAS TREE.

I SPY TWO BIRDS AND A PRESENT FOR ME!

What's Christmas without a Christmas tree? And what's Christmas without a new I Spy book for the younger set? In their new offering for this season, Jean Marzollo's rhymes and Walter Wick's engaging photo compendia combine to give youngsters' brains an age-appropriate workout. Easy stuff for the middle elementary I SPY expert, but just right for preschoolers just sharpening their visual discrimination skills, this and the Mazollo-Wick team's junior I Spy Christmas books make great pre-Christmas or stocking stuffers.

In this outtake from their earlier captivating volume, I Spy Christmas: A Book of Picture Riddles, the verso (left-hand page) provides Marzollo's rhyming clues and enlarged picture versions of the objects. On the facing page these objects reappear, slyly concealed in the collage of colorful items on the right-hand side, a helpful device which helps kids zero in on the correct objects to be found in the photo. Christmasy items such as tree ornaments are mixed with toys such as race cars and polar bears.

As a bonus treat, like the chocolate kiss in the toe of the stocking, the authors provide an appended craft project which involves matching both sides of preprinted, punch-out ornaments, the picture side and the text side. Minimal adult help is required, but most four- or five-year-old children will be able to match both halves of the text and both halves of the picture to make their own sturdy tree ornaments for their own Christmas trees. For kids who blaze their way through the initial puzzles, there is also an appended picture dictionary of many of the other objects to be found on all of the pictures pages of this little book.

I Spy A Christmas Tree (I Spy (Scholastic Hardcover)) (Scholastic, 2010) provides a jolly way to deck the halls before the big day.

Others in the junior I Spy genre include I Spy Little Christmas, Can You See What I See? The Night Before Christmas, I Spy Merry Christmas (Scholastic Reader Level 1), and I Spy A Candy Cane (level 1) (Scholastic Readers), all great stocking stuffers for young listeners or beginning emergent readers.