THIRTEEN

by Remy & Jerry Joyner Charlip ‧ RELEASE DATE: Sept. 1, 1975

Most picture books are arranged like the Guggenheim museum--you start at one end and work through to the other, with no distracting options. Thirteen is more like MOMA, with no certain route through the labyrinthine arrangement. (Or, picture a thirteen ring circus--or thirteen TV sets heaped together, each tuned to a different channel.) Should you go through the pages only once, trying simultaneously to follow all thirteen picture sequences) (some mere processions of images, some ministories with a very few words as supplement) through the thirteen double-page spreads? Or, more methodically, should you make thirteen bee lines through the book, concentrating on one sequence each time? Or must you choose? Chances are you'll cover the ground more than once, Hopscotch-style. In any case the whole non-linear enterprise is clearly more a creative kick for the author/artists than a made-to-order entertainment for the picture book age, but, being cleverly conceived and beautifully executed, this is one you float with the expectation that it will find an audience. . . somewhere.

Pub Date: Sept. 1, 1975

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Parents' Magazine Press

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: Sept. 1, 1975

Categories: CHILDREN'S