Seen and Not Heard - Hardcover

Katie May Green is a graduate from the Cambridge School of Art MA in Children's Book Illustration. She has created artwork for UK and US publishers including HarperCollins, Penguin and Oxford University Press. Seen and Not Heard is Katie's first picture book. She says, of the inspiration behind it, "I remember standing in front of an Elizabethan portrait of three children, wondering what these stiffly-clad, sombre-looking little people were really like. Were they, in their time, so very different from children today? My thoughts then became a little more abstract: what would it feel like to be trapped in a painting for four hundred years? Would there be any kind of release? Perhaps, with a little moonlight, a little magic..." Katie lives in Somerset. Visit Katie's website at www.katiemaygreen.co.uk and follow her on twitter @KatieMayGreen.

K-Gr 3—In this picture book, English children of Shiverhawk Hall scamper down from portrait frames at night and are quite naughty, except for two look-alike girls, who seem to be almost perfect. The youngsters, who vary in age and time period, stand perfectly still during the day, but when people are asleep they come out and on this particular night make a mess with "trifle" and "treacly goo." Reminiscent of the moving portraits in the Harry Potter movies, Green's digitally altered full-color pencil illustrations are similar in style to Maurice Sendak's In the Night Kitchen and add to the magical scene. Though not a typical picture book for an American audience, it would be fun to use to talk about portraits or imagination or to offer to readers who want something a bit spooky to read. VERDICT An additional purchase for larger picture book collections.—Jane Hebert, Glenside Public Library District, Glendale Heights, IL