Welcome to my blog series Picking Pages: Picture Book Peeks where we pick our favorite Picture Book pages! Today we’re looking at EVERYBODY IN THE RED BRICK BUILDING by author Anne Wynter and illustrator Oge Mora. It was published by Balzer + Bray in 2021.
This is my new blog series I created to highlight the visual nature of picture books. The purpose is to promote amazing books, and to give a little “peek” at the interior. Each post will also allow you to vote (“pick”) your favorite page out of two choices. The last post was ACORN IS A LITTLE WILD, so be sure to vote there, too!
But back to our current book: EVERYBODY IN THE RED BRICK BUILDING.
This is a book just bursting with sound! You can practically hear the pictures.
I’m a fan of collage style and I just love the artwork. The way the words meld with the art is superb, and makes both more vivid.
Everybody in the Red Brick Building is a new take on The House That Jack Built. Ordinarily that’s not really one of my top story choices, but this version is spectacular. It takes place in a city, which is a setting that will be familiar to many children. And the different onomatopoeia are derived from different sounds one might hear in an apartment building.
We start with everyone asleep. Then there’s a crying baby, a screeching parrot, the pitter-patter of stomping feet, a car alarm, and more. Finally, everyone calms back down, and we end with everyone back in bed, asleep, and the little baby sweetly curled in her mother’s arms.
Now, I’m always a fan of onomatopoeia. This is no exception. These sounds are really fun to read aloud. And the texture in the illustrations makes them great for little eyes to explore.
The first option I choose for our pick of favorite pages is what I call All The Noise. It’s a cacophony of fantastic sounds, all mixed together. It’s a very dramatic page with so much going on, that, in my opinion, it’s one of the best in the book.
However, this second choice is also high on my list of fave options. I call it simply The Cat. This page is focused in on a single element: the cat escaping the noisy car alarm. The high contrast, dramatic representation of sound with the angry orange color, and the perfection in the simplicity of the cat make this page a work of art on its own.
What do you think?
Which page is your favorite?
Vote here:
Thanks for voting!
And remember, the best ways to support your favorite authors and illustrators includes buying their books, leaving them reviews, marking them as “want to read” on Goodreads, checking their books out of the library, and sharing how much you love the books on social media. Here are some helpful links:
- EVERYBODY IN THE RED BRICK BUILDING on Bookshop.org
- EVERYBODY IN THE RED BRICK BUILDING on Amazon
- EVERYBODY IN THE RED BRICK BUILDING on Goodreads
- The author’s website: Anne Wynter
- The illustrator’s website: Oge Mora
And if you’d like to Pin this blog post for later, you can save this image on Pinterest:
Have you read EVERYBODY IN THE RED BRICK BUILDING? Tell me what you thought in the comments.
Don’t forget to vote for ACORN WAS A LITTLE WILD!
Happy Reading!
xo Rosemary