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Summary
Summary
MULTIPLE STORIES . . . MULTIPLE STORIES. A story about choices from the "Queen of the
Concept Book."--The Horn Book
WHAT IF a boy found a beach ball and kicked it into the ocean? WHAT IF two seals found it and began to play? WHAT IF a third seal appeared on the beach looking for a friend?
In this spare and deceptively simple book, Laura Vaccaro Seeger shows us the same story with three different outcomes, each highlighting the possibility in possibilities.Youngest children will enjoy this visit to the beach and the chance to guess what happens when different choices are made.
What If? is a 2011 Bank Street - Best Children's Book of the Year. This title has Common Core connections.
Author Notes
Laura Vaccaro Seeger is a New York Times best-selling author and illustrator. Laura is also a 2-time Caldecott Honor Award winner as well as a winner of the New York Times Best Illustrated Book Award, the Boston Globe/Horn Book Award for Best Picture Book, and a 2-time winner of the Theodor Seuss Geisel Honor Award. She is also the recipient of the Empire State Award for Body of Work and Contribution to Children's Literature.
Laura's paintings have been exhibited in many museums and galleries including the Art Institute of Chicago and the New York Public Library.
Laura earned her BFA degree at the School of Fine Art and Design at the State University of New York at Purchase. She moved to Manhattan to begin a career as an animator, artist, designer, and editor in the network television business. She created show openings and special segments for NBC and ABC for many years and won an Emmy Award for an NBC Special opening animation.
Laura is the author of the Dog and Bear Series, First the Egg, Green, I Had a Rooster, Lemons are Not Red, One Boy, The Hidden Alphabet, Walter was Worried, and What If?
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In this outside-the-box book about friendship, Seeger (Dog and Bear) pictures a boy kicking a beach ball into the water, and then invites the reader to explore the possibilities of what might happen next. Each of the three stories about three seals is told visually with spare verbal prompts ending in ellipses ("What if...? And what if...? Then what if...?"). In the first two stories, a different seal gets left out of the fun (a closeup of a tan seal's forlorn face is downright heartbreaking), while the third story features all three seals happily playing together. The difference in color between the gray and mauve seals is perhaps a touch too subtle, but readers should be able to keep the animals straight. Seeger unobtrusively underscores each story arc with textured illustrations-sunlight sparkles on the water, gradually sets, and stars appear in the deep blue sky-and provides a deceptively simple but creative introduction to the structure of stories and how simple it is to be a good friend. Ages 3-7. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved
Horn Book Review
What if a pair of seals found a beach ball and began to toss it around? And what if a third seal came along and wanted to join the game? In her latest innovative concept book (First the Egg, rev. 11/07; Lemons Are Not Red, rev. 1/05), Seeger takes this premise and, using almost the same few words each time ("What if...? / And what if...? / Then what if...? / But then... / Or..."), plays out three different scenarios with three different outcomes. As do her previous books, this one functions on several levels. For the very youngest child, it's a straightforward exploration of the age-appropriate concept of sharing (in the first two scenarios, one seal is left out of the beach-ball fun). But Seeger builds in room to stretch, so that child readers ready for more complicated concepts -- of premise and outcome, of actions and consequences, of the multiple possibilities contained in every situation -- will find them here. Best of all, whatever conclusions readers reach will be their own, as Seeger's minimalist text asks questions rather than imposes answers. Visually, the book's a knockout. The small, square size, child friendly and unassuming, both sets off and contains the lushness of the pages, with their inviting textures, visible brushstrokes, saturated colors, and eye-holding compositions. Another superb offering from this master picture book creator -- no ifs, ands, or buts about it. From HORN BOOK, (c) Copyright 2010. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
Thirty seconds is all you'll need to read this stirring offering, but it will take exponentially longer to fully appreciate. The text What if . . .? introduces a brown seal and a gray seal playing in the water until their beach ball bounces onto the sand. And what if . . .? accompanies the gray seal meeting a purple seal on the beach. Then what if . . .? leads to the two new friends playing with the ball. But then . . . reveals the deserted brown seal, looking indescribably sad in the water. Well aware that this is far too weepy of an ending, Seeger then tells the story a second time (the purple seal is left all alone), and finally a third time (all three play together). It's simplicity itself, but the emotions are exactingly executed by careful placement of characters upon the page and the slightest hints of emotions. It's the work of an artist who never overplays her hand, and the brushstrokes and possibly even finger strokes evident in the colorful paint give it an even deeper sense of intimacy.--Kraus, Daniel Copyright 2010 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-Cinematic techniques such as the close-up and the rewind invite readers to contemplate inclusive play. Thick, tactile oils portray a floating beach ball and the two seals who find it-as well as the third seal watching from the shore. Scattered questions composed of very few words help explore three possibilities, until a bird arrives. (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
What if two seals are playing with a beach ball and it rolls up on shore? What if one seal lumbers out of the water to retrieve the ball and finds another seal on land to play with? Seeger, who loves to play with perspective, presents three different possibilities in one situation (five, if you count the unwritten story of the boy and the ball on the cover and that of the seagull and the ball on the last page). Just when the story is finishedin this case, the two seals on the beach play together while the seal in the ocean looks on sadlyanother possibility is introduced. Four square, sunny panels containing the ball and the first two seals (one brown and the other gray) introduce the three scenarios. The child reader, who stares directly into the eyes of the seals, is an unspoken member of the familiar friendship drama, too, wondering what will happen next. Never wordy, here the author goes beyond minimalist: "What if...? / And what if...? / Then what if...?" The faces of the seals, either playing happily or lonely and left out, draw young readers into the stories, inviting them to predict the conclusion. Simply gorgeous. (Picture book. 3-6)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
