When creature met creature

Agard and Kitamura (The Rainmaker Danced) reteam to explore the role of language in experience--a heady-sounding theme conveyed in deeply affecting words and images. Creature-Of-No-Words, drawn with scribbly orange lines, perceives life as waves of emotion: when delighted, "He'd simply flap his arms/ like the wings of the birds/ and carry on gazing at the sea." On a freezing night in front of a cozy cave fire, "It was enough just to feel snug./ O to feel that warming glow." And when he's distressed, "from his lips would come/ a deep-down belly groan." Creature-Of-Words, smaller and scrawled red, communicates via formalized language (in the sea, she shouts "HAPPY! HAPPY!"; "AH! FIRE!" she says on a snowy day). When she happens upon Creature-Of-No-Words and hears him groan, she offers "HUG! HUG!" In a tender moment, Creature-Of-No-Words experiences spoken comfort and utters his first word. From then on, the two live together "in a house where words also lived," and sometimes enjoy silence, too, "stroking each other's fur" beside an outdoor fire. Conveying two modes of communication, the creators portray how sensation and language dovetail, and how two beings can complement each other nearly perfectly. Ages 4--9. (May)

Creature-of-No-Words is content being "furry. And never in a hurry." The large, ungainly fellow enjoys his life, and although he doesn't "know how to say HAPPY" or "YUMMY" or "SAD" (having no words), he expresses himself through body language. Creature-of-Words, on the other hand, loves to use words; when she sees Creature-of-No-Words looking sad, she reaches toward him with outstretched arms and teaches him the word "HUG!" Creature-of-No-Words has a big red nose, his orange body is filled in with squiggly lines, and he's accompanied by eleven white birds. Creature-of-Words is smaller and redder, with a group of critter companions, including a fox, a cat, a squirrel, and two birds. Part of the book's fun is noticing the ways all of the animals interact in the illustrations. The text is written in triplets with occasional rhymes and includes such whimsical thoughts as the wish that pebbles would "burst like bubbles." Kitamura's paintings use intense color to show the pair living in a varied and beguiling landscape as they find joy together, sometimes sharing words and sometimes cuddled up "just listening to sweet silence." This tender tale illustrates the ways in which creatures, and humans, are alike and different from one another, especially in communication styles. Susan Dove LempkeMarch/April 2024 p.54 (c) Copyright The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.

When two creatures meet, the language skills of one enhance both their lives. Creature-Of-No-Words--a large, orange being--lacks the words to articulate his experiences. But silence isn't problematic when Creature-Of-No-Words is gazing peacefully out to sea or happily flinging pebbles skyward. Whether eating something yummy or warming himself by a fire, he seems self-sufficient despite his wordlessness. Yet at other times, he becomes deeply despondent. He thumps his chest, emits "a deep-down belly groan," and cries. On one such day, the smaller Creature-Of-Words happens by. She knows how to name her moods, that something delicious is a "Treat! Treat!"--and that this big, sad creature needs a "Hug! Hug!" Award-winning poet Agard's pithy triplets are laced with occasional rhymes. Kitamura's illustrations, filled with all-over patterns for orange fur, tree bark, and greenery, reinforce Agard's suggestion that Creature-Of-Words introduces not only language, but civilization. "From that day the two of them lived / together in a house where words also lived, / which was all well and good." The duo are now silhouetted inside a conventional home (not the male's previous cave), with word bubbles drifting from the chimney like balloons. The pair's respective companions--birds and small mammals--form harmonious bonds, too. When enough has been said, all enjoy the "sweet silence" of a "no-words night beside the fire." Quirky, earnest--and sweet, indeed. (Picture book. 4-7) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.

Agard and Kitamura (The Rainmaker Danced) reteam to explore the role of language in experience—a heady-sounding theme conveyed in deeply affecting words and images. Creature-Of-No-Words, drawn with scribbly orange lines, perceives life as waves of emotion: when delighted, "He'd simply flap his arms/ like the wings of the birds/ and carry on gazing at the sea." On a freezing night in front of a cozy cave fire, "It was enough just to feel snug./ O to feel that warming glow." And when he's distressed, "from his lips would come/ a deep-down belly groan." Creature-Of-Words, smaller and scrawled red, communicates via formalized language (in the sea, she shouts "HAPPY! HAPPY!"; "AH! FIRE!" she says on a snowy day). When she happens upon Creature-Of-No-Words and hears him groan, she offers "HUG! HUG!" In a tender moment, Creature-Of-No-Words experiences spoken comfort and utters his first word. From then on, the two live together "in a house where words also lived," and sometimes enjoy silence, too, "stroking each other's fur" beside an outdoor fire. Conveying two modes of communication, the creators portray how sensation and language dovetail, and how two beings can complement each other nearly perfectly. Ages 4–9. (May)