Here a Face, There a Face Book

Author/photographer Arlene Alda has produced yet another brilliantly simple rhyming safari — this time in search of faces in unusual places. These faces are found on buildings, in trees, mailboxes, and fountains. Coy, funny, grumpy, comical, or sad, they are almost anywhere a child’s imagination wants to go. Whimsical text heightens the search and helps us find the unusual characters who are quietly gathered all around us. Alda’s unique through-the-lens perceptions will launch young children on a visual adventure that just might be hard to return from.

The easy-to-read text and trampe d’oeil photos make Here a Face, There a Face perfect for the young or young at heart.

This is Arlene Alda’s third, and perhaps her most clever photographic essay. Look for The Book of ZZZs and Did You Say Pears?

Publishers Weekly

The artist behind the camera for Did You Say Pears?delivers another perky photo-essay that blends poetry, art and elements of traditional seek-and-find books. This outing challenges readers to see faces-combinations of eyes, nose, mouth-in such everyday objects as water faucets, a mailbox or a skillet in which eggs are sizzling. Each of her color photos is accompanied by a brief phrase that helps focus the reader's attention and is also part of a longer rhyming couplet ("Looking up,/ Glancing down,/ Staring straight ahead./ On a pot,/ In a pan,/ Even on some bread"). The verse grows more abstract toward the end, and the closing image, of clouds, may throw some readers ("Look, there goes a fluffy pig... floating towards its bed"). But those who love seeing the ordinary in new ways, especially those who aren't yet ready for I Spy and Look-Alike titles, will welcome this entry. Ages 2-5. (Mar.)

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