What If...

Rating:
Summary: Imaginative!
Review: ***** Grab your child's favorite snugly blanket, rev up your imagination, and get ready for a bedtime story where anything is possible and nothing at all is unusual! This colorful book allows us to enter the creative mind of a little boy who tries to delay his bedtime each night by playing a special game called: What If? Silver and gold snowflakes that sparkle like diamonds and taste like peppermint ice cream...What If? What about dogwood trees? Ever wish you could really pick a puppy from the branches of a dogwood tree?

What If focuses on the creative imaginations of a child, and after reading this book you will never again look at many common things in the same old way. Clouds, butterflies, teddy bears, flowers, trees, snowflakes, stars and many other things take on special characteristics and a life of their own...through a child's eyes. The pages of vivid illustrations are done with a combination of watercolor and colored pencil, and are simply enchanting...making your little one breathe a sigh of, "Ohhhhhhh!" as you turn each page.

I highly recommend this book for children and adults of all ages who love to look at things in a different way and say, "What If...?" *****

Reviewed by Ruth Wilson.

Rating:
Summary: Magnificent Bedtime Story for All Ages
Review: Dreams make the world go round. Whether they're daydreams, or dreams that you have when you sleep. A little boy decides that he wants to delay going to bed, so he uses his wonderful imagination to dream up many different dream scenarios to tell his Mother about, before succumbing to the inevitable, and falling asleep and entering his very own dream.

I adore bedtime stories. I have since I was very young, and WHAT IF... is one of the best that I have ever seen. The prose is delightful, and will quickly lull your child to sleep when bedtime comes, while the illustrations are utterly magnificent, and will have your child in awe. If you are going to buy one bedtime story to last a lifetime, this should be it.

Erika Sorocco
Book Review Columnist for The Community Bugle Newspaper

Rating:
Summary: Lovely, whimsical text and drawings
Review: Lovely, whimsical text and drawings. Good conversation prompter. Comfortable length, good balance between text and pictures. Great for 3-6 year-olds.

(Similar to Sarah Perry, If... Malibu, CA: J. Paul Getty Museum and Venice, CA: Children's Library Press 1995, which has outrageous, fantastical picture images.)


Rating:
Summary: A gem!
Review: What if "dogs really did grow on dogwood trees," and "flowers tasted like lollipops," and "butterflies could sing?" Those are but a few of the questions the main character asks his mom in order to delay his bedtime just a little longer.
In one scene we find him picking a bouquet of trees that have shrunk to the size of flowers. In another he is standing, face upturned, as it snows silver and gold snowflakes. With each turn of the page we see another of his wide-eyed wonderings brought to life with lively, enchanting watercolor and colored pencil illustrations.

The story ends as our imaginative little visionary snuggles in his bed while mom turns off the bedroom light and tells him to turn on his dream light. The last page includes a glow-in-the dark illustration that encourages readers to turn on their dream lights.

Although meant as a bedtime book, this would work equally as well in the classroom. It could be used to enhance a lesson on imagination, questioning, or creative thinking. Teachers could use it to introduce "What if . . . " brainstorming techniques or "What if . . . " writing activities. A delightful little gem of a book