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Summary
Summary
From the creator of the all-time classic VERY HUNGRY CATERPILLAR comes a sweetly resonant story about the power of friendship.
When a best friend moves away, it can be painful for the child who is left behind. But the spunky boy in this upbeat story makes up his mind to find his missing playmate. Young readers will cheer on the boy as he braves currents, climbs mountains, and dashes through rain before, finally, reuniting with his friend. A story alive with love and perseverance, brightened with vibrant art and Eric Carle's trademark fostering of imagination.
This deeply personal story for Eric is dedicated to his longtime wife, Bobbie, and it is their bond that inspired the book. For anyone who has ever scaled mountains to be with the one he loves, or for anyone who has simply known the love and joy of a great friendship, this book will strike a resonant chord.
"This story of love and determination is illustrated with Carle's extraordinary signature artwork. For anyone who would cross rivers and scale mountains for a beloved friend, this warmhearted story will create an emotional response. Young readers will learn the value of friendship and its many challenges." -- School Library Journal
"Often dynamic and quite beautiful, these colorful illustrations of the river, the meadow, and so on are abstract in style and show up well from a distance. A picture-book tribute to the strength of childhood friendships." -- Booklist
"The images are beautiful and evocative." -- Publishers Weekly
Author Notes
Eric Carle is an award-winning, children's picture book author and illustrator whose most recognized work is The Very Hungry Caterpillar Board Book. Carle was born to German parents in 1929 in Syracuse, New York. The family returned to Germany in 1935, moving to a suburb of Stuttgart. Carle disliked high school, quitting at the age of 16 before graduation. He was admitted as the youngest student to the Akademie der bildenden Kunste, an art school.
After finishing at the Akademie, he worked as a poster designer for the U.S. Information Center in Germany until 1952, when he moved back to New York City. He was a graphic designer at the New York Times and later worked as an art director at L.W. Frohlich & Co. In 1963, Bill Martin, Jr. saw a poster of a red lobster that Carle had designed and asked him to illustrate Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See?, thus launching his freelance career. Among his many children's books are Dream Snow, Hello, Red Fox, The Very Clumsy Click Beetle, and Pancakes, Pancakes! His title The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse made Publisher's Weekly Best Seller List for 2011. His title Brown Bear Brown Bear What to You See? made The New York Times Best Seller List for 2012. In 2015 he made The New Zealand Best Seller List with Love from the Very Hungry Caterpillar.
Eric Carle, beloved children's book author and illustrator, died on May 23, 2021. He was 91.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (5)
Publisher's Weekly Review
A boy and a girl are fast friends: "Together they played and ran and danced and told each other secrets." When she moves away, the boy "took a deep breath, counted to ten," and sets out on an arduous journey to reunite with her. Using the hand-painted tissue paper collages that have been his signature for nearly five decades, Carle (The Artist Who Painted a Blue Horse) composes the core of the book impressionistically, employing the boy's literal and emotional viewpoints (while leaving the boy himself entirely unseen) as he crosses a wide river and a tall mountain, sleeps beneath skies filled with stars and clouds, and tries to remain steadfast in a forest, where "Dark shadows danced around him. E-e-e-k!" The images are beautiful and evocative, but there may not be enough in this story to hold every reader. Although the boy reappears in the final pages (he emerges from a flower garden bearing a bouquet for the girl, whom he marries), very young readers may wonder where he went, while older ones may yearn to see him in action. Ages 3-5. (Nov.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Horn Book Review
When friends are separated because one moves away, the boy travels through fields, clouds, forest, and flowers to find the girl and marry her. The ending may not resonate with children, but the journey is beautifully conveyed through Carle's text and art. The author's note makes this less a children's book than an adult's wish fulfillment. (c) Copyright 2014. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
A boy's best friend moves away, but he is determined to find her. After swimming across a wide river, he falls asleep under the stars. He walks across a broad meadow and through the rain. He falls asleep and dreams of floating on a cloud. Awakening in a deep forest, the frightened boy runs until he reaches a garden, where he gathers flowers and gives them to . . . his friend. They play together. They get married. It's an odd, dreamlike story for a picture book, yet the artwork is strong and unmistakably Carle's, created with painted tissue papers, usually as collage elements. The children appear only in the book's beginning and ending sections; in between, seven double-page spreads illustrate the story of the boy's travels, without any human figures. Often dynamic and quite beautiful, these colorful illustrations of the river, the meadow, and so on are abstract in style and show up well from a distance. A picture-book tribute to the strength of childhood friendships.--Phelan, Carolyn Copyright 2010 Booklist
School Library Journal Review
PreS-Gr 2-A boy describes his devoted affection for a friend with whom he plays, dances, and shares secrets. Then she moves away, and he is all alone. He misses her terribly and vows to find her. Readers will cheer his bravery as he crosses a swift river, climbs over a steep mountain, and travels through a dewy meadow and shadowy forest to find her. Ultimately, he stumbles across a flower garden. With a bouquet in hand, he finds his friend, reunites with her and (playfully) marries her. Both are humorously shown in oversize adult apparel, holding hands. The concluding page shows a scanned photograph, taken in 1932, of the author and a long-lost friend at age three. This story of love and determination is illustrated with Carle's extraordinary signature artwork. Layers of tissue paper and acrylic paint create a unique blend of colorful images. For anyone who would cross rivers and scale mountains for a beloved friend, this warmhearted story will create an emotional response. Young readers will learn the value of friendship and its many challenges.-Krista Welz, The North Bergen Public Library, NJ (c) Copyright 2013. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Kirkus Review
Carle revisits the timeless topic that he explored with Kazuo Iwamura in the bilingual animal journey Where Are You Going? To See My Friend! (2001); this time, a boy yearns for the girl who moved away. Readers first see the pair frolicking in small vignettes against a white background. When the girl departs, the protagonist counts to 10 before disappearing into glorious spreads. The hop-along narrative conjures up We're Going on a Bear Hunt: "The boy landed in a broad meadow. It was a hot day. The grass was dewy, damp and coolA-h-h-h." Six additional double-page spreads depict a river, a star-filled sky, a mountain, a rainstorm, a forest and clouds. While familiar collage images dominate some scenes, suggestive abstract paintings comprise others. The forest is a dense world, with layers of liquid green and black on a distant yellow. The river creates a different mood with casual swirls of brightly lit blues and greens. A happy reunion leads to a dress-up marriage; in a slightly disorienting turn-of-the-page segue, Carle provides a photo of his 6-year-old self and the never-seen-again friend who inspired the story. Some may see this as an abrupt change, a jolt of reality after the fantasy ending. Nevertheless, children will identify with the longing to be with distant loved ones and will revel in the sheer joy of Carle's forms, colors and textures. (Picture book. 3-6)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
