LITTLE LESSONS

Ready for a lesson in style?

Fans of proverbs and Chwast, rejoice—the perfect pairing is coming your way! Eighteen proverbs are captured in the author/illustrator’s signature style, each filling a double-page spread. The book depicts proverbs from around the world, from “Let sleeping dogs lie” to the Nigerian expression “When a mouse laughs at a cat there is a hole nearby” to the Japanese saying “Even a monkey can fall out of a tree.” The illustrations—with hand-lettered proverbs—stand alone on each page without comment or explanation. Savvy caregivers and educators will use each page as a springboard for conversations ranging from the immediate (“What does this mean?”) to the more elaborate (“What other proverbs do we say regularly?”). An afterword briefly touches on the cultural origins of many of the proverbs. Like most Chwast books, this is a study in art, as loose, colorful drawings fill the page and interact with the text in unusual ways. For example, “Don’t ride two horses at the same time” is written in speech balloons shared by the equine duo as a mustachioed rider straddles the pair. On the page labeled “Don’t cry over spilled milk,” the O of over cleverly becomes a crying mouth, while the S of spilled pours out of a sideways cup. As a whole, the book is a delight. Human characters depicted are diverse. (This book was reviewed digitally.)

Offbeat, weird, and wonderful.