Available:*
Library | Call Number | Status |
---|---|---|
Searching... Stayton Public Library | E DOUGHTY | Searching... Unknown |
Searching... Salem Main Library | JP Doughty | Searching... Unknown |
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Summary
Summary
I was a flower with no pot
I was a polka with no dot
What did I do before you came along and changed the tune?
Through simple, yet lively text and whimsical illustration, the love from parent to child, or lover to lover, or friend to friend, is celebrated. The perfect gift for baby showers, Valentine's Day, birthdays, weddings, and beyond. Before You also works perfectly as a comforting and joyful read-aloud for parents to tuck their children into bed with. For fans of perennial favorites like I Like You and Guess How Much I Love You.
Author Notes
Rebecca Doughty is the author/illustrator of Oh No! Time to Go!: A Book of Goodbyes and Some Helpful Tips to a Better World and a Happier Life . She has illustrated for numerous board books, gift books, and picture books, including One of Those Days . She lives in Cambridge, Massachusetts with her husband. Visit her website at www.rebeccadoughty.com .
Reviews (3)
School Library Journal Review
Gr 3 Up-This picture book pairs brief sentences with simple ink and Flashe paint illustrations on a white background to describe a sense of incompleteness: "I was a flower with no pot./I was a polka with no dot." "I was a bowl without a fish./A birthday cake without a wish." "I was a sky without the blue./I was a ME without a YOU." A transitional page follows with the line, "Then you arrived and changed the tune!" and an image of animals marching and playing instruments. Text and illustrations now appear on colored backgrounds: "You woke the sun./You lit the moon." "I had a cup, you brought the tea./I had a boat, you brought the sea." "Now I'm a bird and you're my song./So tell me now./what took you so long?" While the images and text are part of the world of a young child and the colorful animal characters resemble art that a child might create, the theme of dependence upon another person for happiness may be confusing for young readers. This title is best suited for older readers studying forms of expression, but they may find the illustrations condescending. VERDICT For larger collections.-Laura Scott, Farmington Community Library, MI © Copyright 2016. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
Doughty (Some Tips for a Happier World and a Better Life) eloquently deploys a string of metaphors, first to highlight a sense of feeling incomplete ("I was a flower with no pot./ I was a polka with no dot") and then to describe the satisfaction and happiness that come with finding one's perfect pair ("I had a cup, you brought the tea./ I had a boat, you brought the sea"). Scraggily outlined in black ink, Doughty's cartoons never turn saccharine, especially in forlorn scenes of ice-cream-less cones and about-to-be-squashed four-leaf clovers in the first half of the book, and her poem works just as well to describe a parent's love of his or her child as it does to express romantic affection. Ages 4-7. Agent: Rebecca Sherman, Writers House. (Dec.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
Doughty explores the difference one person can make.The first half of the book looks at the world before you came along. I was a flower with no pot. // I was a polka with no dot. The latter assertion is cleverly illustrated by a scene of animals, all in polka-dot clothing, dancing the polka in the background while a forlorn pig stands alone looking on, back to readers. But then you arrive, and everything is different. You put the cozy in the nook. / You put the story in the book. The pictures backgrounds modulate from white to colorful scenes, and now there are two to share things in each illustration, though there is no consistent you or methe anthropomorphic animals (and objects!) change throughout. The line-and-color cartoon artwork highlights the sadness of being alone in the first half and the joy of sharing things with a friend in the second, body language and facial expressions doing the heavy lifting. In addition to the books obvious love-you-lots theme, its bounty of metaphors and clever depictions of them make it a boon for classroom use. A celebration of friendship that uses metaphors to excellent effect. (Picture book. 4-7) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.