HAZEL IS ALL THAT: Learning Like a Little One

ROCKY POND BOOKS, 2025

Spend a few minutes with HAZEL, of HAZEL IS ALL THAT, written and illustrated by Chad Otis. Hazel is that bespectacled little girl on the cover, surrounded by dogs, wearing an ambiguous expression. So, too, are some of the dogs. This vibrant new picture book is awash with color and action,  with "dog talk" sometimes offering page-covering onomatopoetic power. The first dog Hazel encounters erupts with repeated 

RRAAARP! 

RRAAARP! 

RRAAARP! 

RRAAARP!

Hazel's reaction is no surprise, and her label of "bad dog" fits with a reader's reactions. As Hazel and her adult proceed through the park, she encounters a dog who is good, another who is tough, and another who is naughty. All are labels used by Hazel based on observation of behaviors, body types, and ...

her own assumptions. 

Hazel does what we all do. Or, more fairly, I'll speak for myself. This "little one", trying to figure out her world and apply labels she's learning, does what an old human like me is inclined to do-- jump to conclusions. Without asking, without further observation, without having any real need to assign labels to others. 

Midway through, Hazel's dropped ice cream sends her cycling through the many emotional states she had observed in the park pets: angry, naughty, sad, embarrassed, and happy again. This wise young Hazel realizes that she can be ALL THAT, allowing her to notice that the conclusions she had draw about dogs are incomplete, at best. All those dogs can also be "all that". A plot development in theconclusing pages will tug at readers' hearts and also reminds us that emotional states are rarely one-offs. We can be scared and angry and "good" at the same time, in varying amounts.

This minimal-text, maximal meaning picture book combines loose-lined, splashy illustrations reminiscent of  Chris Raschka's "Daisy" books with the heart of THE HAPPINESS OF A DOG WITH A BALL IN ITS MOUTH by Bruce Handy and Hyewon Yum. I relished the yellow glasses throughout, symbolic of the open-eyed perspective of a little one in a big world. Hazel was taking everything in, processing prior learning and applying it (especially those ambiguous emotional labels) to the patterns she observed. 

Again, rather than say "we all do that at every age",  I'll just admit I am thinking of myself. It is such a challenge NOT to turn brief observations into instantaneous judgments. No matter how aware I try to be of that tendency, it takes a story like this to remind me of this trend in my nature. I need to STEP BACK. To pledge to be as open-eyed as Hazel became. When "evidence" appears that someone is a certain way, that should be my signal to consider what MANY ways that person could be feeling or thinking or what they could be dealing with. Perhaps a sour facial expression is inadvertent evidence of physical pain. On a day of immeasurable happiness anyone can be caught with a wave of regret, or missing someone, or longing of some other kind.. 

Jumping to conclusions rarely lands us on solid ground. HAZEL IS ALL THAT is a colorful, action-packed picture book that serves social-emotional learning on every level. Noting visual clues that triggered Hazel's initial responses offers an important exercise for youngest audiences, as is dealing with her own "meltdown" midway through the book. The astute insight she achieves about emotions being complex and multi-layered presents yet another discussion point for early learners. And, may I say, a reminder to me and others who are decades away from being "littles" that Hazel's awareness, her outreach to notice the emotions of others, and her ability to self-correct are lessons we never outgrow. 

Two Delightful Picture Books with "BIG FEELS"

Sky Pony Press, 2024

 Sue Fliess is an author whose mastery of narrative rhyme is reliable and kid-friendly, as noted in some prior offerings I reviewed HERE, HERE, and HERE. Her latest picture book is a feel-good, universally-appealing take suited to any kid who loses a baby tooth (universal, right?). This crew of tooth-losing-aged diverse kids begin with a celebratory success, and their anticipation of the tooth fairy's arrival. 

With that opening "Hooray!", readers are launched into the joyful fun (and some lively surprises) while preparing for the arrival of the tooth fairy. The truth about any child's loose tooth is that feelings prior to successful extraction can be ambivalent at best, and may include some anxiety or even fear. Thus, the title of this post: "Big Feels". 

This positivity about successful tooth removal and preparations will be a hit with parents and with youngsters awaiting that first experience and even for those who already display gaping grins. The clever premise of this book is that the crew of kiddos first describe what a tooth fairy (a "tiny flying friend") will do, then imagine a genuine dilemma. Just as someone might lose a tooth for the first time, a tooth fairy might be a beginner, a first-timer, and not be very successful at the job. Oh, no! Which way to fly? How to find the right house? Or the right pilliow?\

These little dynamos set out to help. Readers will delight in the  fun illustrations by Simona Sanfelippo, revealing clever, energetic personalities. They plan, they gather materials, they prepare signs, a tooth box, and even welcome signs. The tooth fairy is delighted, of course, leaves the child a new toothbrush and dental floss, with a note of thanks and also a promise to return when needed. 

At that point, the book brings welcome surprises, including pages that offer non-rhyming information paragraphs (suitable for the age) about baby teeth, tooth fairy traditions, origin stories, and other cultural practices. This is followed by some simple HOW-TO directions for little ones to make their own signs and messages for the tooth fairy when their time comes. This upbeat and unique take on losing baby teeth and tooth fairies will be a great addition to families, schools, libraries, and care centers for children of this age. 

Chronicle Books, 2023

As for those "Big Feels", Andy J. Pizza and Sophie Miller created a picture book that allows young children to consider confusing and complicated emotions that are deeply felt but can be challenging to identify and self-regulate. All too often, discussions and book explorations of feelings with young children tend toward labeling or explaining, sorting into "positive or negative", good or bad", "happy or sad". Adults reading this note may already be rolling your eyes about the over-simplification that implies, with losing a baby tooth as a perfect example of complex and confusing emotions for young people. 

These creators took a wonderfully creative approach that avoids such categorizing by inviting readers to don the "invisible thing" spotting glasses that are drawn on the opening end pages. By "wearing" imagined glasses, the illustrations become visible! I was excited about this effective way of making abstract subject matter both visible and open to better understanding. The first double spread illustrates and labels concrete object (even imaginary ones, like a monster) with a very short note that these are familiar characters from many picture books. I would add, from real life, too!

Interior, IMAGINARY THINGS,
Chronicle Books, 2023

One page turn demonstrates that even these recognizable characters experience "invisible things" (emotions). What the creators produced are varied irregular and colorful shapes that represent emotions, unnamed. One still unlabeled, not obvious as single, simple emotions. In fact, the simple side text on that page points out that "life is more than meets the eye." Cleverly (again) the senses are used to sort out some experiences, external and internal, that kids know well but may never have consciously processed. After several spreads of sensory explorations and emotions they may instigate, inner experiences and "senses" are pictured, labeled, and discussed. These pages are  followed by suggestions for ways to manage and cope with feelings (those invisible things). 

Interior, IMAGINARY THINGS
Chronicle Books, 2023

The extensive variety of feelings illustrated, labeled, and applied to little lives offers visual delight and rich content. The amorphous, colorful "blobs" and recognizable shapes use minimalist lines and dots to add emotional expression, even when open to interpretation. The visuals will appeal and encourage frequent return to the pages. Several spreads encourage a sort of "seek and find" fun that demonstrates how many ways emotions are universal. Whether the young people in your lives are pretty mellow or are highly reactive to sensory or internal experiences, this book will likely be a welcome exploration for them and for the older readers who share it with them. "Big Feels" near leave us, and that makes this original and clever presentation of them an appealing and valuable  addition to our lives.

What's Wrong? Nothing! Well, Maybe Something!

 Books can be "stand-alones", sequels, companion books, trilogies, or series. In this case let's just call these a "pair" of picture books that will have kids giggling and asking you to read them again and again. Created by the same pair, author Jory John with illustrations by Erin Kraan, these characters/settings are likely to find themselves in future woodland animal adventures, complete with appealing subtitles. 

Farrar, Strauss, Giroux  2021

First came SOMETHING'S WRONG! A Bear, A Hare, and Some Underwear. The premise in this case (and the next) is simple. A sweet but ordinary moment happens while the character is safely at home. This alone is somewhat laughable, but as the story unfolds a persistent state of denial becomes the source of humor. Those increasingly insistent situations are giggle-worthy for even the youngest through illustrations, but will be elevated by an effective adult reader of the text. (Use those character voices, Big People!) This bear, stars in both books, has a significantly recognizable capacity to rationalize, explain, divert attention, and otherwise avoid admitting the truth. 

Kids a bit older than toddlers will recognize the futility and fun in this string of verbal efforts, while recognizing themselves in similar situations.This first book launches with the unlikely but surprisingly sweet JEFF the bear reciting his morning routines, with the added note that he had tried on his grandma's recent gift. From the cover you'll guess that this was a pair of "tidy whities", which his sleepy-bear self forgot to remove. Despite the feeling that something is wrong, Jeff heads out. When friends note this and try, tactfully, to ask if anything is wrong that day, Jeff insists  that everything is fine. His hare friend, ANDERS, is honest enough to speak directly about this situation, then takes the lead to avoid JEFF being teased by the other wood critters. 

Farrar, Strauss, Giroux, 2023

It's no surprise when the next title features these two friends as stars of NOTHING'S WRONG! A Hare, A Bear, and Some Pie to Share. In this case, though, Anders begins at home, making a surprise apple pie for their picnic using Grandma's best recipe. When the perfect pie, cooling on the window sill, is ruined by a storm, Anders hates to admit the truth. He tries denial. Along the way, with a silly make-up mix of foods stuffed in a yarn basket, JEFF senses something is wrong with Anders, using his Bear-bounty of verbal attempts to make everything all right. 

Kids of any age, but especially in this early age  group, struggle with admitting mistakes, acknowledging confusion, or feeling embarrassed. These feelings can result in what adults readily label "lying", when in fact it is a developing mind in full-blown denial, creating a truth they cling to, avoiding those uncomfortable feelings. That denial, the longer it goes, becomes more and more entrenched. A good friend (or caregiver, teacher, parent, or sibling) may step in and provide a bridge to get past the pain of such misery. These two books are great examples of such kindnesses, and also open the door to discussions of the feelings themselves.

This newer title, too, has an eventual happy ending that involves the woodland population of critters as a large group of friends. And, of course, PIE. Nothing's sweeter than that. Except, perhaps, the illustrations. Kraan has produced a cast of characters with the comic qualities of exaggerated physical features, especially expressive eyes, with gentle-toned spreads featuring limited black line and accent colors to draw the eye to the emotional state of the players. The backgrounds and some other stretches of pattern incorporate what might be assumed to be digital stamps but were produced with linocut prints and woodcuts, assembled digitally. The soft-edges of those compiled scenes add to the effectiveness of occasional art-created text, with texturized and blur-softened art where font appears, and adding depth to such elements as fur and shadow.

The success of both talented creators is no surprise, and might limit the number of new titles for this pair of characters in new situations, but young readers will be rooting for Anders and Jeff and their crew to star together in future picture books. 

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I Say ODE, You Say ... Grecian Urn?

This post title actually reveals my own reaction to poems in the form of ODES. One official definition of an ODE is this:

a lyric poem in the form of an address to a particular subject, often elevated in style or manner and written in varied or irregular meter.

Many of us who were traditionally educated in earlier decades learned Keats's ODE TO A GRECIAN URN, a poem whose language I admired but one that did nothing to inspire me or make me run right out to gush over an urn. Now, later in life, I have come to admire the excellence of the poetic structure and patterns, the lyrical flow and underlying emotional passion expressed. Even so, mention of an ODE, to me, elicits expectations of stilted language, overwrought or exaggerated emotions, and tightly structured forms.

Chronicle Books, 2023, Poetry

ODE TO A BAD DAY, written by Chelsea Lin Wallace and illustrated by Hyewon Yum takes those reactions to the ODE form (which I suspect are more common than not) and plays with them in delightful ways. Using familiar daily disappointments, a la ALEXANDER and the TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY, Wallace identifies moments in a day that knock this young girl narrator back a peg, although leaving us to slog alongside with her  to the next mundane disappointment. 

End papers reveal a charmingly aware and self-directed young girl who recognizes happiness around her but also spies miseries, even slight ones. Her body-angst while still in her morning bed (sprawling, upside down, visibly uncomfortable) call to mind a child I know who requires many square yards of mattress to make it through a night. Sometimes, her day dawns as sunny as the outdoors, and others are launched with groans. 

In this case, the first ode decries crusty eyes, rusty bones, and dusty teeth. This ode, as with all others, has an opening line to address the offending aspect of the day, and concludes with a similar line of direct address. 

The next ode is excerpted on the publishers page:

Oh Too Much Milk in My Cereal!

Soggy, squishy! Boggy, mushy!

You turned my crispy into gushy!

Slogging through the remains of the day, odes address OUCHY, LINE CUTTER, HICCUP, BOREDOM, and... just imagine more. The cover illustration aptly reveals a lass whose responses to the world and her own moods are fully felt and expressed, perhaps edging toward being a drama queen. What shines through is that she periodically calls out for tomorrow being a better day, displaying awareness of the transient nature of such misery and longing for a return to a rosy state of mind. 

Yum's illustrations are  delightfully effective, utilizing broad strokes of colors and exaggerated facial expressions and postures that reveal the narrator's moods in contrast to the reality of the quite sunny world through which she is moving. This defies the girl's descriptions of her gloomy day and ramps up the humor found in the descriptive word choices and targets of her anguish. Those illustrations also incorporate subtle details that will invite multiple readings and enhance the entertainment  factor, particularly the eye rolls and reactions of stuffed animals, even the cow on the milk carton. 

This title offers a delightful mentor writing resource for workshop use, allowing practice with the form, exploration of emotions, formal rhyme patterns, humor (without relying on puns and joke telling), and story arc/character development. Figurative language that is often used by kids in everyday conversation but is seldom addressed as a writing skill is HYPERBOLE. This picture book uses it to great effect, balancing successfully on the line between sincere and silly.This dramatic young narrator has actually inspired me to try writing some odes of this type, perhaps as self-help therapy on a bad day! Be sure to compare this to the fifty-plus year old, never-out-of-print classic ALEXANDER for a sure source of inspiration in kids who sometimes struggle to find things to write. EVERYONE has a bad day now and then, so why not write about it?

Here's an opinion from one of my most trusted review sources: 

“The poetic structure and regal cadence lend the child’s voice a sense of polite formality, bringing ironic humor to her bad day…cleverly matched with bits of visual humor” — Bulletin for the Center of Children’s Books 

Happiness Is... Finish the Phrase!

 II recently mailed out numerous greetings to friends and family, each somehow conveying "Happy Easter!'. That called to mind the word HAPPY and an upcoming picture book that resonates with my own experiences and those of many young people who have blessed my life across the years. Telling/wishing someone to be/feel HAPPY is a kind thought, but is generally without power to make it so. Feeling HAPPY is often most noticeable in its absence. For those who tend toward a happy frame of mind, a "NOT HAPPY day, or, worse yet, an UNHAPPY DAY is immediately noticeable and distressing. For those whose baseline demeanor is more neutral or situation specific, not feeling HAPPY can be a more familiar condition, more tolerable. 

Then there are some whose self-awareness of emotions trigger reflection and concern, an urge to change up the situation. If anything less than HAPPY, especially when surrounded by others displaying happiness or even wishing them HAPPY... that state of mind and heart can be even more uncomfortable. Such can be the case around holidays.

BEAMING BOOKS, May, 2023

LOOKING FOR HAPPY is written by Ty Chapman and illustrated by Keenon Ferrell. It is not a holiday book, but certainly is one to celebrate. Everything about the art and text of this book radiates emotional storytelling. The front cover with its shades of blue background reveals the struggle of the narrator-young person whose daily life is typically joyous but who experiences a day of struggle. The back cover transforms to vibrancy, with brilliant rose and amber backgrounds, and shows this same narrator channeling their chance discovery of music, resolving the burden they carry throughout the text. Both the illustrations and text invite the reader into this personal account of a day of disconnection.

The word "sad" is never used. After an opening spread revealing that the narrator is usually light and breezy with dancing feet (a hint of their eventual resolution), the problem of the day is felt through dragging feet, a noisy brain, and a chest full of rocks. The following spreads allow this self-aware character to initiate efforts to remove these uncomfortable sensations through reading, watching funny programs, and playing with friends. All are  powerful choices, yet ineffective on this weighty, noisy, achy day. When Grandma proposes a walk to the park, even lively nature encounters fail to relieve this weighty day. Only when a chance encounter with music breaks through the gloom does the instrumental lilt weave its attraction. Soon the power of song has those leaden feet dancing, that noisy mind wrapping itself around melody and lyrics. 

The author's effective but  limited text wraps itself directly around this character's inner sensations and self-aware discomfort with the status of their mood. Portraying simple but often effective strategies to shake off such discomfort demonstrates agency and independence, as does their willingness to go along with Grandma's suggestion despite doubting it will help. Readers will identify with the inner journey and also root for success from start to finish. Illustrations both underpin the emotional progressions and expand the straightforward text with recognizable and familiar details of daily life. Color choices throughout are worth examining closely and could serve as mentor examples in art instruction.

The overall impact is not in the least didactic but instead unfolds like a brief and dramatic play, keeping readers attention throughout and inviting them to join in a celebratory dance and song at the end. In fact, if I were still in a classroom or had young folks in my home I'd incorporate this picture book not only for its full-hearted entertainment value, but to spark discussion and brainstorming for ways our best selves (like this character on the opening pages) can note and call on the aspects of the world through which we express happiness, holding those practices in mind for use when a day just gets us down.

LOOKING FOR HAPPY will release on May 2 and can be preordered now, HERE or wherever you purchase books. A copy was was provided to me by then publisher, BEAMING BOOKS, without a promise of review.

BRI-I-I-I-N-NG!!! School Bells Ringing Soon

 There's no denying that "Back to School" will have an ientirely different ring to it than it did in September, 2020, or in the years prior, for that matter. Even so, there are some universal aspects to it that are undeniable, and that includes the need for some outstanding back-to-school picture books to share in the early days. That's because behind the many faces (no matter how many or how few, whether masked or not) sharing the experience of a new class, there will just that many different emotional and individual attitudes about the experience. The one thing each kiddo shares with the others is that their feelings are mixed. 

Recognizing this, I particularly appreciate back-to-school books that bring "all the feels" to the surface and allow us to experience them together. There are actually some great back-to-school read-aloud chapter books, but nothing beats the power of picture books in providing a complete, compact, and compelling moment of connection. I'll share two titles in this post, and tag on some come-along titles for each. 

Clarion Books, June, 2021

LITTLE BAT IN NIGHT SCHOOL stars a subtle but irresistible little regular among the many delightful bats in a series of "Bat" titles created by writer/illustrator BRIAN LIES. I've been a fan of LIES (rhymes with "cheese"), since I first encountered the picture book he illustrated by I. C. Springman, MORE. (That's your first bonus, and I hope you'll click to read my original review of that amazing book, but please read on about these school books first.)

Sorry, Little Bat, that I paused to make that connection. You've dealt with waiting for the spotlight through many books in the past, but you never lost that cheerful and curious personality of yours, or the  little yellow floaties that you sport in each appearance. And now you finally get to be the star of the story when you go to NIGHT SCHOOL! where else, when else, would a bat go to learn about the big wide world? And Little Bat was thoroughly prepared and pumped for this adventure, as the cover suggests. Even with Mama Bat at his side, the size and population of nocturnal animals in his new class casts a shadow across his brow. 

Mr.s C., the Raccoon teacher, extends a warm welcome, and Little Bat recognizes nighttime critters before he spots his target- other bats! In this parallel-to-kid-world, those bats are already friends and are not exactly welcoming to Little Bat. He turns to his cubby to unload supplies, where he meets little Ophelia Possum, who is also a tad timid, and is loaded with mistaken assumptions about bats. 

In page after detailed page, the two tentative friends ("I'll go if you will.") bolster each other through that first night of songs, art, math, snacks, and incredibly funny-punny scenes. In each, there is a steady tug of who is better at what, who is friends with whom, and how each lands in an assumed pecking order. Ophelia and Little Bat offer their thinking and energy to the rest in a building challenge and, as dawn approaches, they are weaving the ties that will make them into a class. When Mrs. C. closes the night with a read aloud that has them all begging for more, her reassurance that they'll all be back together the next night sounds like good news, agreeing that they'll all be coming back.

The magic of that transformation from individuals, friend packs, bold and timid kids into the foundation of yearlong family is undeniable, and Lies captures the process in these pages brilliantly. Just as undeniable is the magical quality of the art/illustration, encouraging close inspection of details, attention to all layers on each page with appreciation for the nuanced effects of "humanizing" the natural traits of each critter while generating smiles of recognition. Do not miss the fun of Little Bat's  "thumbs up" or the perfectly scaled school supplies and environment in relation to each animal. I could go on,  but I won't. 

Make Me A World, Random House. 2017

MY FIRST DAY demands our attention with that phenomenal cover, reminiscent of the iconic GREAT WAVE painting by Hokusai. This vibrant, vital story of a most unusual first day of school is the result of the combined talents of  Phung Nguyen Quang and Huynh Kim Lien. In this remarkable story , a young Vietnamese boy is the first person narrator of his departure from home, by boat, on the great river, Mother Mekong. 

On page after glorious page, the first day of school jitters are magnified a thousand-fold by the fact that this will be the boy's first time taking the boat alone, through floodwaters and mangroves, cresting wild waves on the sea, navigating the sounds and teeming lives through the "hallways" of the forest, where fear "slithers like a python" through areas that feel unfamiliar when traveled alone. 

The language is just as lush and lovely as the images, with familiar school terms deftly applied to this dense and imposing wildlife: 

"(I) write my name across the blackboard of the river."

""The sky is a crayon box full of colors."

"Schools of fish glint beneath the waves."

Back matter is direct and informative about the twelfth-largest river in the world, the Mekong. I can't imagine a more appealing and effective book to explore the overwhelming but exciting sensations that accompany the adventure of starting school than this. Nor could there be a better way to explore the flora, fauna, and allure of the Mekong Delta ecosystem and the way of life it supports. Its lives contrast dramatically with many readers in western culture, and yet will be  surprisingly familiar to those who live in the Everglades or in Louisiana back country. The layering of familiar, universal back-to-school emotions and preparations with this glorious adventure through expanses of wood, water, and wonder is unforgettable.  This is a must-see, must-read, and must-share picture book.

The bonus is a title featured in an earlier interview with co-creator Baptiste Paul (with Miranda Paul), ADVENTURES TO SCHOOL. This appealing nonfiction book provides brief profiles of some of the most dramatic and amazing ways that children from around the globe travel on their adventures to school. With real-world examples from jungles to mountaintops to waterways and more, this is a perfect choice to have on hand when a young reader (or you!) reads MY FIRST DAY and wonders- would children actually travel to school in such astonishing ways? 

Yes, they would. They do.

And in LITTLE BAT's book you'll find an answer to the ongoing question, "Why floaties?" 

No matter how you get to school, in a boat, on a school bus, or as a LITTLE BAT, the trip will be worth it. 

Here's to THE BOYS, Young and Old

Last week's post celebrated the magic of my dad's voice bringing the Sunday "funnies" to life.

Now let's take a look at how those magical inner voices serve us in wordless books. I can think of no better title to consider for this than THE BOYS, by Jeff Newman.

The only way to do this book justice is to read it, and read it again and again. On one hand that's pretty easy to do- if you can read the days of the week. The only words are the "day" labels spanning a full week.
It begins on Tuesday when the new boy in the neighborhood unpacks his baseball gear and heads to the park. Overcome by shyness when he sees a game in progress, he opts to perch on a park bench with a foursome of "mature gents". Those are my words- choose your own: geezers, senior dudes, old fogeys, grandpa types. They are both stereotypical and utterly unique.

The next day the boy packs his gear away, grabs a loaf of bread for the pigeons, and returns to the bench with his new demographic. Thursday he begins to dress the part- You know what they say about imitation being the sincerest form of flattery. When he returns Friday, having added hat, cane, and glasses, the gents are not there. Eventually they attract his attention where they are "playing" on the equipment. On Saturday the boy arrives at the bench to find a bike, but no buds. As they scoot past on  wagons, and scooters and bikes he rants at them like the old coot-persona he has adopted.

On Sunday he stews on the bench while the gents gear up and head out for a baseball game, leaving equipment for the boy. Eventually, reluctantly, he joins them, scowl intact.
He then proceeds to blast the ball out of the park on his first swing.

Monday it rains, but we see his own baseball gear again unpacked and waiting with him for the weather to improve.

Tuesday- one week since his original baseball venture. He arrives at the bench with his gear to see kids  choosing sides for a game. This time he follows, calls out, and joins them. Then he whacks the ball out of the park while his foursome of fogey friends cheer on the sidelines.

The satisfying conclusion made me cheer. Both "the boy" and "the boys" had made it off the bench and back into the game. I especially enjoy the pun in that- in a wordless book, no less.

(Another synopsis and reviews can be found at Kirkus and Story Time Standouts.)
If you don't know the book, page through the first half at the Simon & Schuster site.

So where are the voices in all this? How do you "read" wordless books (or comics, for that matter) when the words are minimal or non-existent?

In the power of the pictures, of course. The Boys is similar to  comics illustration in that there is much white space, lines are minimal, colorful, and bold, but each is essential.  Tiny lines, dots, squiggles create both facial and postural expressions that speak volumes.

In fact, using the minimal lines forming expressions and gestures, I read five plot lines in this supposedly simple book, with the child being the main character and the gents each having a story to tell. Try "reading" the book five times through, in each case assuming the role of one of the characters. Voice their inner thoughts. Have the inner conversation you can imagine each having, including their views of the others in the scene and the reactions to how this changes their own lives.

Suddenly, the stories in the art provide a depth and breadth far surpassing that of a shy boy who is finding his place in a new neighborhood. Where the boy had anticipated rejection from his peers he instead encountered it from some of the gents- just look at those faces! And they, in turn, read the boy's situation perfectly, intervening with humor and determination. Newman has also mastered the "invisible" language between the page turns (or panels, in comics). The reader must realize that these gents engaged in negotiations and planning to so fully coordinate their efforts and intent.

And even at a distance, who can doubt that the foursome are happy to be in on the action now.

I'm no fan of stereotypes, and my own family disproves any claim that males eschew talk. But this story  reminds me that all grandpas began as dads, and all had to find their own ways to communicate, support, and guide their charges. It also reminds me of the many kids I've known who found that support in surrogate parents and grandparents. Whether that support is spoken in words or actions, or both, it can be life-changing. On this Fathers Day let's tip our baseball caps to all the pseudo-dads and gramps,  too,  with thanks for all they do.

An "emotions" resource tab related to this post has been added. It describes an activity to support the process of "decoding" and labeling facial expressions and body postures to enhance comprehension and depth of questioning.

Jeff Newman had an interview at the time of this release (2010) over at Seven Impossible Things Before Breakfast Blog.