Starred Review for Publishers Weekly

While Brown's 1949 title, The Important Book, described the essential qualities of the familiar things in a child's world, this never-before-published companion addresses the developing characteristics of children themselves. As Brown leads readers through the ages of one to six in a series of jaunty rhymes (""""The important thing about being Four/ is that you are bigger than you were before""""), Raschka (Like Likes Like) emerges with a series of images whose fluid lines, simple geometric structure and concisely edited palette bring to mind the Bauhaus School. A master at conveying motion with a simple sweep of his watercolor brush, he launches a succession of sprightly imps to cavort against backdrops of mustard yellow, brick red and Prussian blue. For the progression from chubby babies (""""You've found your nose/ and discovered your toes./ You've seen the moon/ and felt the sun"""") to agile kindergartners (""""You learn how to count./ You learn how to read./ You know how to dress/ and get what you need""""), Raschka assigns each age group a geometric shape: a simple circle represents age one, pairs of stacked squares indicate two, a five-pointed star signifies five and so on. All the forms blend together in visual harmony for the sweeping finale. It's a pleasure to hear the organic rhythms of Brown's prose again, and Raschka paints in boisterous surprises. Ages 4-8. (Oct.)

ALA Booklist (Fri Oct 01 00:00:00 CDT 1999)

Illustrative interpretations of the loving, perceptive writing of Margaret Wise Brown are always welcome, and doubly so for previously unpublished works like this one. Raschka has made this new book an homage to Brown's most productive years, the 1940s and 50s, right down to the typography. He studied illustrators from that era, such as Robert Kraus and Marc Simont, for inspiration, but he also built on his own Mysterious Thelonious (1997) in creating illustrations that are fluid, musical, and spontaneous. Expressive children, created with gestural ink lines and colorful transparent washes, dance, jump, and play to the tune of Brown's poetic yet developmentally sound ode to growing up. However, the virtues of these figures are sometimes their vices--the thick lines that catch some gestures nicely are awkward or even contorted in others. Complexity that is music on some pages at other times becomes cacophony. Another Important Book leaves one wishing to see less homage and more consistency from Raschka--and, inevitably, sorry that Margaret Wise Brown is no longer writing. (Reviewed October 15, 1999)

Horn Book (Sat Apr 01 00:00:00 CST 2000)

Fifty years later, a never-before-published companion volume to Brown's Important Book has arrived. Beginning with one, Brown is, as always, conscious of child development: two is a doer, three learns about "being me," four has grown in both size and accomplishments. Raschka's illustrations are innovative, intriguing, and brimming with vitality.

Kirkus Reviews

PLB 0-06-026283-4 Raschka (Like Likes Like, p. 304, etc.) illustrates this previously unpublished companion to the recently reissued The Important Book (1999) with page after page of wriggly children rendered in looping, calligraphic black strokes and freely brushed color. Adopting an assured tone, Brown tracks the development of a child's capabilities and sense of self: "You can't quite talk./You can't quite walk./You've found your nose/and discovered your toes./You've seen the moon/and felt the sun./But the important thing about being One is that life has just begun." Her text takes children to age six; by alternating pictures of single children with group scenes, Raschka expands the author's focus on the individual to make growing up a social as well as personal experience. Think of this as a free-spirited alternative to Robert Kraus's Leo the Late Bloomer (1973) and its blatantly commercial reprise, Little Louie the Baby Bloomer (1998, not reviewed). (Picture book. 1-6)

School Library Journal (Fri Oct 06 00:00:00 CDT 2023)

PreS-K In comforting language and perfect rhyme, this previously unpublished companion to Brown's classic The Important Book (HarperCollins, 1949) identifies significant achievements and developments, year by year, in a young child's life. Using the second person, the text addresses youngsters directly, succinctly describing a one-year-old: "You can't quite talk./You can't quite walk./You've found your nose/and discovered your toes." The excitement of being two revolves around all the new things "you can do." Being three means discovering "ME." Questions are presented in a circular pattern around tricolored circles, emphasizing the newfound joy of self-awareness. For each age group, there is a corresponding number of geometric shapes. For example, a page describing four-year-olds shows a wide-eyed child surrounded by four triangles. Raschka has done a lovely job of creating illustrations that capture the look and feel of books published during Brown's era. The pictures show children joyfully testing new abilities. The last page offers the same delightful affirmation as its predecessor the important thing "is that you are you." Jackie Hechtkopf, University of Maryland, College Park Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.