Overview
Ed Young once again turns a fable into a saucy collage treat in this tale about a boy who is just looking for a little bit of knowledge! Told he can have knowledge if he gets the Grand Master a carpet, he begins a journey on which everyone-from Spinner to Goatkeeper-tells him their problems. What about me? they demand. In the search for the answers, the boy discovers he has all the knowledge he needs.
A wonderful, circular tale that makes a terrific read-aloud, What About Me? is also a story with a wise moral. Ed Young's deceptively simple cut-paper images seem to jump off the page.
A young boy determinedly follows the instructions of the Grand Master in the hope of gaining knowledge, only to be surprised as how he acquires it. Based on a Sufi tale.
Synopsis
A young boy determinedly follows the instructions of the Grand Master in the hope of gaining knowledge, only to be surprised as how he acquires it. Based on a Sufi tale.
Book Magazine
The master of cut-paper illustration, Young again dazzles the eye in this retelling of a Sufi tale about a boy who seeks knowledge. When the boy approaches a grand master, the man requires a small carpet first. The carpet maker requires thread, the spinner woman requires goat hair and so on. In the exquisite collages, figures made of patterned and plain paper stand out against neutral, textured backgrounds, with boxed text supplying balance. After a quiet start, the story and illustrations pick up energy as the boy hurries to fill everyone's needs and, unwittingly, his own.
Editorials
Kathleen Odean
The master of cut-paper illustration, Young again dazzles the eye in this retelling of a Sufi tale about a boy who seeks knowledge. When the boy approaches a grand master, the man requires a small carpet first. The carpet maker requires thread, the spinner woman requires goat hair and so on. In the exquisite collages, figures made of patterned and plain paper stand out against neutral, textured backgrounds, with boxed text supplying balance. After a quiet start, the story and illustrations pick up energy as the boy hurries to fill everyone's needs and, unwittingly, his own.From The Critics
The master of cut-paper illustration, Young again dazzles the eye in this retelling of a Sufi tale about a boy who seeks knowledge. When the boy approaches a grand master, the man requires a small carpet first. The carpet maker requires thread, the spinner woman requires goat hair and so on. In the exquisite collages, figures made of patterned and plain paper stand out against neutral, textured backgrounds, with boxed text supplying balance. After a quiet start, the story and illustrations pick up energy as the boy hurries to fill everyone's needs and, unwittingly, his own. —Kathleen OdeanPublishers Weekly
Young's (Lon Po Po) adaptation of a Sufi wisdom tale has ragged edges, but his collage illustrations frequently achieve a nearly transcendent lightness and simplicity. A boy seeks knowledge from a Grand Master, who tells the boy he needs to bring him a carpet. The boy runs to a carpetmaker, who scoffs, "He has needs! What about me? I need thread for weaving my carpets." The thread-spinner needs goat hair, and so on down the line. Once the boy completes the string of transactions, he returns to the Grand Master with his carpet and his original request for knowledge. "You already have it," the Grand Master announces. The story's two morals are spelled out on the final page: "Some of the most precious gifts that we receive are those we receive when we are giving" and "Often, knowledge comes to us when we least expect it"; these seem unlikely to illuminate either the story or the titular question clearly enough for young readers. Young's visual sense, though, never falters, despite occasional lapses in the continuity of pictorial details. Restrained use of patterned and textured papers give the collages a wonderful airiness; as the boy runs to the carpetmaker, for example, his huge skein of lilac thread streams skyward behind him. The figure of the boy, in elegant robes and turban, is almost always seen against the backdrop of vast, empty fields of speckled gray-brown, which suggest landscapes simultaneously physical and metaphysical. Ages 4-8. (June) Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information.Children's Literature
In this simple, but expressive retelling of a traditional Sufi fable, a young boy seeks knowledge from a Grand Master. He is told he needs to bring him a small carpet. But in this cumulative tale, the carpetmaker cannot weave without thread, the spinner woman cannot spin without goat hair, and so he goes on, energetically searching, until he finally finds the needed wife for the carpenter, who gives him wood to pen goats for the goat seller, who gives him goats for the goat keeper, who gives him the hair. When he finally brings the carpet to the Grand Master, of course he is told that he already has knowledge. He is also given two lessons or morals to set the reader pondering. Young designs his bordered pages with elegant simplicity. Subtly textured backgrounds hold blocks of text and figures without any context. Collage combines patterned and solid colored shapes with watercolor touches to create character and surprising activity. A note on the Sufi is included. 2002, Philomel Books/Penguin Putnam Books for Young Readers,— Ken Marantz and Sylvia Marantz