Below
© Nina Crews 2006 Henry Holt & Company ISBN: 978-0-8050-7728-5, ISBN10: 0-8050-7728-6
About Below
Jack and his action figure Guy have many adventures together, and the tall, narrow staircase in Jack's house provides the perfect setting. Jack and Guy climb mountains, visit cities, and explore forests. But one day Guy falls down a hole in the stairs, and it's up to Jack to rescue him. What is going on below the stairs?
Only Guy knows.
Reviews
Imagination gets top billing in this clever what-if picture book about the uncharted worlds that lie beneath the wooden stairs in young Jack’s house. Jack and his faithful action-figure companion, Guy, routinely plot grand expeditions–to cities, forests and mountains–on their tall and narrow household staircase. When Jack discovers a hole in one of the stairs and realizes he’s too large to see what’s below, he quickly sends Guy on a reconnaissance mission “down, down, down.” Jack’s mind races thinking of what adventures Guy may be encountering–or worse yet, the fear and loneliness the solo action-figure might feel. Mom and Dad are too busy to help, so there’s nothing left to do but mount an elaborate rescue effort with toy trucks and volunteers. Crews’s (The Neighborhood Mother Goose) carefully paced text and crisp color photo collages capture the energetic sense of fun and palpable concern that are part of many boys’ real-life fascination with action-figures and their vividly plotted exploits. Shadowy under-the-stairs scenes feature Guy starring in activities imagined by Jack and drawn in a thick white line, paying a bit of homage to Harold’s Purple Crayon. This fanciful look at play will likely hit high notes with young readers. Ages 3-6
Publishers Weekly
Using a mix of manipulated photography and line drawing, Crews places a lad with a wooden toy companion on a painted staircase next to a small, enticing hole. Jack and little Guy have many play adventures on the steps, but the scariest of all comes when Jack drops Guy through the hole into the darkness beneath. What could be down there? Dragons? Wild horses? Maybe toys? That last guess turns out to be a good one. Having unsuccessfully tried to enlist some parental help, Jack brings out his toy crane and recovers not only Guy, but a toy soldier, a brass button and several other items as well. Alternating views of Jack on the white, brightly lit steps above with Guy suspended in near darkness below, Crews expertly captures the mini-episode's drama, as well as the inexhaustible possibilities of stairs as playscapes. Kirkus Reviews