Starred Review ALA Booklist (Thu Jun 01 00:00:00 CDT 2017)

Starred Review French author-illustrator Alemagna, whose spirited The Wonderful Fluffy Little Squishy (2015) won a Batchelder Award, brings her distinctive style and childlike perspective to the page once more with an inspired tale of boredom. A downpour at an isolated cabin drowns a child's hope of weekend fun, particularly after Mom confiscates a handheld video game. Consigned to the dripping outdoors, the child o passes for either gender ns a neon orange raincoat and steps out into an unpromising world of stormy grays and woodsy browns and greens. After some half-hearted exploration, the bored youth slumps despairingly beneath a tree. Suddenly, four large snails appear, and the child follows them through the forest, which no longer seems so dull. There is an increase in drama as each of the child's senses is triggered by a new discovery in the woods: a patch of red-capped mushrooms; a damp smell like "my grandparents' basement. My cave of treasures"; squelchy mud; raindrops on the child's tongue ch is seen, felt, or tasted with growing excitement. Throughout, the child is a literal bright spot on the page, vivid against Alemagna's rain-streaked mixed-media illustrations, which incorporate subtle wax-pencil doodles that echo childhood's penchant for magical thinking. Yet, these imaginings never become fantastical departures from reality, because here true magic is found in the simple but transformative act of experiencing nature.

Starred Review for Kirkus Reviews

Depressed by another rainy weekend in the country cabin, a shaggy-haired, bespectacled, white child wallows on the sofa, numbing malaise with a hand-held video game. Mom finally turns the kid out-of-doors, but the gaming device is stealthily pocketed on the way. The narrator (whose gender remains ambiguous) holds the game "tightly," hoping "it would protect me from this boring, wet place." A stumble launches it into icy waters and the child into the forest without technological armor. Marvelously murky illustrations transmit the myriad textures, shapes, and density of the natural world under a mist of rain. Linear and circular forms abut one another, edging and overlapping, placing readers amid smooth stones, coned mushroom caps, button-y buds, and round leaves as well as driving rain, spiky branches, and prickly pine needles. The child's phosphorescent blaze orange coat glows amid the mossy greens of the forest. Alemagna's captivating artwork magnifies the forest's magic, while her language, via Davis' translation, offers an authentic pre-adolescent voice ("This COULD NOT be happening to me!") that's eventually left almost breathless by nature: "I felt a sense there was something special close by. That I was surrounded." The child's ultimate decision to keep her outdoor awakening private once home will resonate with young people just making their own discoveries and finding them precious. An effective argument for unplugged exploration, submitted through startlingly beautiful words and pictures. (Picture book. 6-12)

Kirkus Reviews (Fri Oct 04 00:00:00 CDT 2024)

Depressed by another rainy weekend in the country cabin, a shaggy-haired, bespectacled, white child wallows on the sofa, numbing malaise with a hand-held video game. Mom finally turns the kid out-of-doors, but the gaming device is stealthily pocketed on the way. The narrator (whose gender remains ambiguous) holds the game "tightly," hoping "it would protect me from this boring, wet place." A stumble launches it into icy waters and the child into the forest without technological armor. Marvelously murky illustrations transmit the myriad textures, shapes, and density of the natural world under a mist of rain. Linear and circular forms abut one another, edging and overlapping, placing readers amid smooth stones, coned mushroom caps, button-y buds, and round leaves as well as driving rain, spiky branches, and prickly pine needles. The child's phosphorescent blaze orange coat glows amid the mossy greens of the forest. Alemagna's captivating artwork magnifies the forest's magic, while her language, via Davis' translation, offers an authentic pre-adolescent voice ("This COULD NOT be happening to me!") that's eventually left almost breathless by nature: "I felt a sense there was something special close by. That I was surrounded." The child's ultimate decision to keep her outdoor awakening private once home will resonate with young people just making their own discoveries and finding them precious. An effective argument for unplugged exploration, submitted through startlingly beautiful words and pictures. (Picture book. 6-12)

Publishers Weekly (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

While her mother works at her desk, a girl in owlish spectacles plays with a handheld video game console. -What about a break from your game?- her mother says, prodding the girl outside despite the pouring rain. Almost at once she drops her device in a pond (-This could not be happening to me-) and sinks into despair (-The rain felt like rocks were hitting me-). Then, in a moment of magic, she-s greeted by four cheerful snails, and her journey opens into an encounter with all the life of the forest: -a thousand seeds and pellets, kernels, grains, roots, and berries touched my fingers.- Alemagna-s spreads ignite with the warm glow of discovery. The generous trim size accommodates big, dramatic spreads as the girl, in her incandescent orange cape, tumbles down a hill and sees the world turned dizzily upside down. When she returns to the family-s cabin, the girl finds that even her mother looks a bit different now. Alemagna demonstrates an uncanny knack for rendering emotional experience with line and color in this intimate and distinctive story. Ages 4-8. (Sept.)

School Library Journal (Tue Aug 01 00:00:00 CDT 2017)

PreS-Gr 2In this story from France, a mother and young child arrive at a remote cabin in the pouring rain, and all the protagonist wants to do is play an electronic game on the couch. When mom insists that the kid go outside, the youngster takes the game along for protection from "this boring, wet place" but drops it in the pond. At first, the child is desolate, like "a small tree trapped outside in a hurricane." But then the protagonist begins to really look around: snails glow in the dark; colorful mushrooms are reminiscent of the grandparents' basement; interesting objects lie beneath the mud. A tumble down a hill provides an upside-down view of the world that prompts the kid to notice bugs, talk to a bird, splash in puddles, and watch the world shining through smooth stones. Filled with delight in this "magical do-nothing day," the youngster runs home and even sees mom in a new light as they enjoy hot chocolate together. Alemagna's striking illustrations, executed in gouache, oil, collage, and wax pencil, extend the text. Sheets of rain fall from a black sky into a forest of green shadows. In the early pages, the only brightness emanates from the protagonist, whose gender is never identified, a small speck in the orange coat and pointy hood amid looming trees. But the skies brighten and the kid appears larger as the wonder in new discoveries increases. This poignant read-aloud may motivate children to shut down their devices and interact with the world around them. VERDICT A strong choice for most picture book collections. Pair it with Dan Yaccarino's Doug Unplugged for group discussion.Marianne Saccardi, Children's Literature Consultant, Cambridge, MA