Joey and Jet

He picked this up at the school Library & we both enjoyed this book very much. Quick & easy for him to read.

James Yang is a great illustrator and his first entries into the children's book niche show that he has an inventive mind and an incredible eye for using color. Young kids love this book because it is like a book in action...following Joey and Jet and their misadventures.

Prize-winning illustrator James Yang's digital pen and ink drawings highlight a book that explains prepositions by showing a dog ("Jet") chasing a ball thrown by Joey. Joey fetches the ball through the trees, up and down a hill, between tables, and into and out of a hole. There's no question that Yang's pictures are superb; he uses compelling textures, colors, and patterns throughout the book. The variety of backgrounds is a mini-textbook in graphic design: He uses repeated patterns, large blocks of color, and modernist 50's design elements on different pages. Digital rendering can be cold at times, and this is somewhat true here. Many times, the work seems flat and too abstract. However, the colors, action, and use of imperfect, squiggly lines (see the cityscape, for example, though I wish he had used this technique more often) help to reduce this feeling. Unfortunately, the pictures don't always clearly illustrate the book's bolded prepositions and directional words. For example, Joey is show chasing the ball "through the trees," but the stick-figure green-leaved trees are set against a flat orange background that shows no perspective. If a child weren't sure what "through" meant, this book would probably not help much. Similarly, there were problems with the illustrations for "among" (a difficult concept made harder because Jet is way off to the side in a spread cluttered with birds), "into" (directional arrows substitute for Joey actually going "into" something), and "across" (the design is superb 1960's era modern, but the level of abstraction and point of view obscure the action ). Other drawings are more completely successful (e.g., "on," "over") because they're well-designed, beautiful to look at, and illustrate the bolded word. For the imagery, this is a 5* book. However, readers who want to expand their vocabulary might be slightly disappointed.

What a fun book!! The illustrations are cheerful and the story is so cute! The colors are bright enough to capture a babies attention and the story is written well enough for beginner readers! I am buying several for gifts!!

What a wonerful book to use to teach prepositions to young kids! The illustrations are beautiful and simple, and the text carries the reader among the characters, into the adventure, through the book, and out into understanding!