LOOK UP, LOOK DOWN

The incredible Hoban brings her unique eye and mind to another sequence of 28 splendid photos, subtly pairing them to explore concepts, designs, and colors as well as (almost incidentally) subjects. Look up at the swirling canopy of a sycamore or down at a circular grill that might surround its trunk; up at a vertiginous skyscraper, its sharp verticals gleaming against a blue sky, or down at a quiet park's soft treetops, silhouetted against the blue of snow at twilight; down at a rainbow oil slick or at a goldfish swimming over a muddy submerged tire. The final photo is another witty self-portrait (cf. Shadows and Reflections, 1990): Hoban's shadow, elbows akimbo to hold her camera. Intelligence and skill inform every exquisitely composed page; no words used, or needed. (Picture book. 2+)