The Wild Woods

From School Library Journal
PreSchool-Grade 2-Jess and her grandfather are walking through the woods when the child decides to follow a squirrel and take it home. Grandad's objections always elicit a quick solution from Jess, who navigates streams and climbs hills much faster than he can. Along the way, James gives readers woodland vistas to enjoy. On many spreads, the recto is devoted to a painting of the girl and the squirrel, while the verso includes the brief text beneath a small painting of Grandad trying to keep up with his granddaughter. In the end, Jess realizes the truth of his claim that squirrels really belong "in the wild." The watercolor illustrations are impressive simply as landscape, but they offer more on a second look. The interplay of the child and the elderly man's trek over the same terrain, for example, provides multiple views of the same scenes. One hopes these two characters will have further adventures to share with the picture-book crowd.Kathy Piehl, Mankato State University, MNCopyright 1993 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
Ages 3-6. Walking with her Grandad, Jess spies a squirrel and decides to keep him. Grandad has trouble just keeping up with them as Jess and the squirrel go deeper into the woods, using stepping stones and fallen trees to cross streams and mucking through muddy places in their path. Every time Grandad raises an objection to her animal adoption plan--"Where will he sleep?"--Jess has an answer, but when it comes down to the central issue, she cheerfully concedes that a squirrel really belongs in the wild. An innocent love of natural creatures, so apparent in James' endearing Mr. Blueberry (1991), is also what gives this picture book its universal appeal. The beautifully composed pen-and-ink illustrations with watercolor washes have a feeling of spontaneity and touches of humor. A terrific book to read aloud before the kindergarten class takes a nature hike or during practically any preschool story time. Writing and illustrating picture books that are simple without being simplistic, sensitive without being sentimental, James has the gift of pleasing adult readers and children listeners alike. Carolyn Phelan

From Kirkus Reviews
As Jess and Grandpa make their way through the woods, they debate Jess's idea of taking a squirrel home. ``They're too wild,'' Grandpa says, but, still, Jess follows one over a gate, across a stream, and up the trunk of a fallen tree, pointing out that squirrels enjoy sandwiches and that one could sleep in her room. The real drama here is Grandpa's struggle to keep up with Jess, who's not quite as wild as the squirrel but just as active; cane in hand, he hops doggedly from rock to rock, pauses to wring out his socks, and finally catches up in time for the companionable walk home. A good-humored vignette with concise, appealingly realistic dialogue and deftly scribbled pen and watercolor illustrations, in the manner of James Stevenson, that nicely convey the large but friendly woods' attractions and the warm interaction between Grandpa and Jess. (Picture book. 3-7) -- Copyright ©1993, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Card catalog description
Grandfather explains to Jess as they walk in the woods why she can not keep the squirrel they see for a pet.


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PreS-Gr 2-Jess and her grandfather are walking through the woods when the child decides to follow a squirrel and take it home. Grandad's objections always elicit a quick solution from Jess, who navigates streams and climbs hills much faster than he can. Along the way, James gives readers woodland vistas to enjoy. On many spreads, the recto is devoted to a painting of the girl and the squirrel, while the verso includes the brief text beneath a small painting of Grandad trying to keep up with his granddaughter. In the end, Jess realizes the truth of his claim that squirrels really belong ``in the wild.'' The watercolor illustrations are impressive simply as landscape, but they offer more on a second look. The interplay of the child and the elderly man's trek over the same terrain, for example, provides multiple views of the same scenes. One hopes these two characters will have further adventures to share with the picture-book crowd.-Kathy Piehl, Mankato State University, MN


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