Booklist Review

Ponti is a prolific picture-book author in his native France, and TOON Books has modified two of his French works as a single addition to their winning stable. Ponti's aesthetic is quite on display, as each page constitutes a single panel and, while its shape and the iconography and symbols within are drawn from comics, even young readers who have never set eyes on sequential art before will be quite comfortable here. The narrative, in which Chick and Chickie first make scary masks and then play with a living letter A, is as simple as can be, and the youngest readers will find no stumbling blocks (though there is one image of the chicks pretending to scare the A that more sensitive kids might find alarming). The art, however, reveals an accomplished complexity beneath the charming simplicity, as Ponti effectively distinguishes his characters with the smallest details and strategically uses drops of sweat and motion lines to create a sense of lively fun.--Karp, Jesse Copyright 2010 Booklist