OK GO

Berger follows the success of New York Times Best Illustrated Little Yellow Leaf (2008) with a book for little tree-huggers. She fittingly uses recycled materials to create her stylized collages, at first depicting a few cars puffing exhaust against a light-blue background emblazoned with the word: “GO!” As she incorporates more cars into successive illustrations, she shifts the background to darker shades of blue and gray, while repeating “GO!” across the double spreads. This visual commentary on the fast pace of contemporary society and the environmental impact of cars and fossil fuels is powerful in its simplicity and accessibility. After screeching to a “STOP!” the text on the four facing pages of the closing double gatefold shifts from spare to perhaps intertextual in nature: Echoes of Paul Simon’s “50 Ways to Leave Your Lover” resound in the myriad suggestions for slowing down the pace of life and conserving resources: “Use the bus, Gus,” “Recycle, Michael,” and so on, thus bringing the recycling ethic not only to her pictures but to her words as well. (environmental tips, resources) (Picture book. 5-8)