Round Trip

Rating:
Summary: Intro to M.C. Escher
Review: I remember this book! That's what I thought to myself as I picked up this sly little piece of black and white elegance. When I was a child I remember seeing this book in some form or context. Literal minded child that I was, I was always a little perturbed by the content. In this book, deceptively simple black and white photographs tell the story of a car trip to the city and then back home to the suburbs again. To read this book, the teller reads it first one way to the city, then turns the entire book upside down to tell the story going back to home again.

To accomplish this trick, author/illustrator Ann Jonas utilizes her skills as a graphic designer to create pictures that use negative space adroitly. This book is like a series of industrial M.C. Escher prints. Jonas's book resembles her husband Donald Crews similar storyline in "Freight Train". In both books, the focus is on moving through a landscape. You never see people in either story. But while the focus of "Freight Train" is to concentrate on the speed of a single object, this book looks squarely at the scenery. Any child that has ever been forced to spend hours in the back of a car on the highway will recognize the sights seen along the road. Sheep, lakes, and forest trails abound. Though Jonas's technical wizardry almost steals the show, there is a lot to be said for the beauty of the images themselves.

Kids who have read this book more than once may find themselves having some difficulty seeing a single picture one way and not another. I myself had to strain to make an image of smoky factories not appear to be a farmhouse upside down. I don't see this as a book that children will necessarily scream for at night. At the same time, it is just the kind of book that a child 20 years down the road might pick up in a local library, flip through absently, and say to themselves, "I remember this book!".

Rating:
Summary: Intro to M.C. Escher
Review: I remember this book! That's what I thought to myself as I picked up this sly little piece of black and white elegance. When I was a child I remember seeing this book in some form or context. Literal minded child that I was, I was always a little perturbed by the content. In this book, deceptively simple black and white photographs tell the story of a car trip to the city and then back home to the suburbs again. To read this book, the teller reads it first one way to the city, then turns the entire book upside down to tell the story going back to home again.

To accomplish this trick, author/illustrator Ann Jonas utilizes her skills as a graphic designer to create pictures that use negative space adroitly. This book is like a series of industrial M.C. Escher prints. Jonas's book resembles her husband Donald Crews similar storyline in "Freight Train". In both books, the focus is on moving through a landscape. You never see people in either story. But while the focus of "Freight Train" is to concentrate on the speed of a single object, this book looks squarely at the scenery. Any child that has ever been forced to spend hours in the back of a car on the highway will recognize the sights seen along the road. Sheep, lakes, and forest trails abound. Though Jonas's technical wizardry almost steals the show, there is a lot to be said for the beauty of the images themselves.

Kids who have read this book more than once may find themselves having some difficulty seeing a single picture one way and not another. I myself had to strain to make an image of smoky factories not appear to be a farmhouse upside down. I don't see this as a book that children will necessarily scream for at night. At the same time, it is just the kind of book that a child 20 years down the road might pick up in a local library, flip through absently, and say to themselves, "I remember this book!".

Rating:
Summary: Very clever!
Review: My son saw this one on Reading Rainbow and he was so fascinated by the pictures that we went right out and bought it. It is very cleverly done, and all my kids really like this one.

Basically, every picture tells TWO stories. You read the book through, then turn it over and read it upside down. A bridge with water running under it and cars driving over it become, when upside down, a fence with electric poles and wires running alongside and stars in the sky above! It's really a wonderful little book.

Only 4 stars because the story isn't interesting enough to read twice, although the pictures are great fun to look at over and over again.

Rating:
Summary: Round Trip, By Ann Jonas
Review: This is a kids book about a trip to the city. it seems a little stupid at first, as every page has on line (i.e. "we went throught the tunnel"), but is a nice book. then, at the end of the kids trip to the city, they say "time to turn around and go home", and you turn the book over, and it has hidden in the pictures other pictures that appear upside down. EXTREMELY CLEVER. All black and white. also try REFLECTIONS by Ann Jonas, which is similar, but in color. A truely great boo. (for a kid to read, or a adult to marvel at) Any questions, E-Mail me. END

Rating:
Summary: Round Trip, By Ann Jonas
Review: This is a kids book about a trip to the city. it seems a little stupid at first, as every page has on line (i.e. "we went throught the tunnel"), but is a nice book. then, at the end of the kids trip to the city, they say "time to turn around and go home", and you turn the book over, and it has hidden in the pictures other pictures that appear upside down. EXTREMELY CLEVER. All black and white. also try REFLECTIONS by Ann Jonas, which is similar, but in color. A truely great boo. (for a kid to read, or a adult to marvel at) Any questions, E-Mail me. END