The Whisper

August 3, 2015
In her first work as author, two-time Caldecott Honor recipient Zagarenski appears to have constructed a story to accompany her dreamy, otherworldly paintings, rather than the other way around. A girl in a fox-eared red hood borrows a book from her teacher and hastens home, but its words spill out along the way, leaving only the pictures. A mysterious whisper tells her, “You can imagine the words. You can imagine the stories.” And so she does, inventing the first few sentences of a story for each of Zagarenski’s magical paintings, but leaving them unfinished. In one, an enormous ox lies in a field, listening “to secrets that anyone wanted to share.” In another, an elephant floats tranquilly down a river: “Their hundred mile journey began in a sturdy wooden boat.” Tiny vignettes of the girl looking at these very images in her own treasured book create the sense that readers are reading it along with her. The unfinished stories may leave some readers with an uneasy sense of irresolution; others may see them as filled with possibilities. Either way, Zagarenski’s artwork is irresistible. Ages 4–8.

Starred review from August 1, 2015
A "magical book" on loan from her teacher loses its words on the trip home, so a little girl spins her own stories for each enchanting picture. Seeing the letters tumble from the binding, a fox encourages her, whispering, "Remember: beginnings, middles, and ends of stories can always be changed and imagined differently." Readers join in, captivated by a series of spellbinding illustrations whose strangeness, recurring imagery (crowns, rabbits, wheels, bees, honeycombs, stars, suns, moons, teacups), expansiveness, and downright beauty beg for unbridled storytelling. The little girl sits crouched in the lower corner of each page, chin in hand, her eyes scanning the very same spreads that dazzle readers. A conversation emerges, in which the girl and readers volley narration, with increasing confidence and intensifying specificity. The girl submits, "As instructed, we arrived at exactly 3:33. One four-leaf clover and a large pot of hot, steeping tea had been purposely placed near the entrance of the woods," and then trails off with ellipses....Readers' cerebral wheels will continue to spin, providing a resolution of their own-perhaps aloud to a caregiver or maybe just inside their own heads. Surreal, staggering mixed-media paintings make traveling across such beautifully varied and bizarre storyscapes exhilarating. (Picture book. 4-8)

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Starred review from July 1, 2015

Gr 1-3-A sweet-faced girl in a red hood borrows a special book from her teacher. As she runs home, oblivious to what is happening, the words escape. While a fox nets the jumbled letters, readers can discern "once upon a time," "wizard," "bears," etc. At home, the child is disappointed, thinking the book lacks a story. Then she hears the whisper: "You can imagine the words...the stories....There are never any rules...imagining just is." She develops an approach, looking more closely at the pictures and asking herself questions from her vantage point at the border. Ironically, this is not a wordless experience for readers; the girl develops opening sentences for the next seven magical compositions. Zagarenski's signature wheels, teacups, crowns, and tigers populate these richly layered, golden scenes, full of texture and mystery: an elephant and lion float by on a quest, a wizard blows bubbles that become real creatures. During the girl's return trip to school, the fox requests help reaching grapes. Those familiar with Aesop may be surprised that no trickery is involved. The endpapers reveal the edited fable; the listening fox has also learned about imagining and reimagining. Stories about storytelling can be hard sells to children, who generally prefer the familiar arc of a sustained narrative. However, the mixed-media art is so stunning in this Caldecott-honor artist's first foray into writing that they will make an exception. VERDICT A sumptuously illustrated fable about the magic of storytelling and the power of imagination.-Wendy Lukehart, District of Columbia Public Library

Copyright 2015 School Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from September 1, 2015
Grades K-3 *Starred Review* As the school day draws to a close, a little girl in a red hoodie with tufted points like fox ears spots a mysterious book perched high up on a single shelf. Her teacher tells her it is a magical storybook and offers to let her take it home for the night. The girl, who loves stories, can barely contain her excitement and runs out the door, book in arm. When she finally gets the chance to sit down and read, she is bitterly disappointed to find only pictures inside: But where were the words? Where were the stories? Then a voice whispers that all she needs to do is look closely at the pictures and imagine the stories to go with them. For each of the book's beautiful and curious illustrations, the girl starts a brand-new story that trails off, allowing the reader to imagine what comes next. Two-time Caldecott Honor Book illustrator Zagarenski has written a tale of wonder and endless possibility. Her layered mixed-media artwork has a magical, surreal quality, where a windup horse jumps through hoops one minute and a magician blows bubbles that come to life in the next. This tribute to the imagination shows young readers the magic of creating stories, in addition to reading them, and that is a powerful thing.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)

September 1, 2015
A little girl borrows a book from her teacher and hurries home to consume it, only to discover that the words are missing (unbeknownst to her, the words escaped from the book as she ran and were captured by a fox with a net). While the images within the book bring her to tears with their beauty, she misses the absent stories. She pores and ponders, though, and begins to create the stories herself, passing the night in fantasy. On her way back to school the next morning, she encounters the fox, who returns the words in exchange for a favor. Zagarenski spins her tale across a series of double-page spreads, each representing a corresponding spread in the girl's book, many of them sharing bits of iconography and animalia. Zagarenski decorates the pages with ornate, gilded, richly patterned images bedecked with castles, crowns, swirls, and stars, inviting the very sort of wonder her story celebrates. The fox is present throughout and gets her own story at the end, a (happier) twist on Aesop's sour-grapes fable. The fanciful combination of opulent imagery and mysterious detail will have children imagining stories of their own. thom barthelmess

(Copyright 2015 by The Horn Book, Incorporated, Boston. All rights reserved.)