The Hueys in What's The Opposite? - Hardcover

Oliver Jeffers (www.oliverjeffersworld.com) makes art and tells stories. In addition to illustrating the #1 blockbuster The Day the Crayons Quit, his books include How to Catch a Star; Once Upon an Alphabet; Lost and Found, which was the recipient of the prestigious Nestle Children’s Book Prize Gold Award in the U.K. and was later adapted into an award-winning animated film; The Way Back Home; The Incredible Book Eating Boy; The Great Paper Caper; The Heart and the Bottle, which was made into a highly acclaimed iPad application narrated by Helena Bonham Carter; Up and Down, the New York Times bestselling Stuck; The Hueys in the New Sweater, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book of the Year; and This Moose Belongs to Me, a New York Times bestseller. Originally from Belfast, Northern Ireland, Oliver now lives and works in Brooklyn, New York.

PreS-Gr 1—Jeffers's minimalist, oval-shaped Hueys are back, and this time they're talking about opposites. A white Huey starts the conversation by asking a pink one, "What's the opposite of the beginning?" When no good answer is forthcoming ("Is it yes?"), the helpful Huey proceeds to introduce more opposites to his friend, such as "up" and "down" and "high" and "low." A cat who runs up a tree (but has difficulty getting back down) becomes a running motif throughout the illustrations. Blue, purple, and orange Hueys soon join the game as well, introducing such pairs as "light" and "heavy" and "happy" and "sad." Some humor is fairly sophisticated, like a Huey who can't tell the difference between a "half full" and "half empty" glass, and another who finds that the "lucky" fan that's washed ashore on his desert island "unluckily" requires an electrical outlet. Throughout, Jeffers uses his characteristic simple shapes and colors, placed amid abundant white space, to evoke humor, frustration, and surprise. As in many of his other picture books, the main text appears in a large serif font, while characters' commentary appears in smaller, cursive-style handwriting. Predictably, the opening question is revisited at the close of the book, when it's finally answered with "The end." VERDICT An amusing twist on the traditional concept book by a beloved master of shape and line.—Jill Ratzan, I. L. Peretz Community Jewish School, Somerset, NJ