Product Description

The sky’s no limit in a witty picture book about a child on a swing and the wonders of the imagination.

One child. One swing. An obliging dad. The inevitable plea to go "Higher! Higher!" Add Leslie Patricelli’s wildly expressive illustrations, and an everyday pastime reaches new heights of humor and whimsy. How high can it go? Higher than a giraffe? Taller than a mountain? Is Earth the final frontier? The creator of a popular series of board books rises to the occasion with an ingenious picture book of very few words that expresses the giddy glee of being pushed in a swing.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #168295 in Books
• Published on: 2009-03-24
• Released on: 2009-03-24
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 32 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9780763632410
• Condition: NEW
• Notes:
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

From School Library Journal
Starred Review. PreSchool-Grade 1—Well-known for her captivating board books, Patricelli brings her simple text and crayon colors to the next age level. As an adult pushes a pigtailed girl in a striped sweater and socks on a swing, the child calls out: "Higher! Higher!" The ride gradually takes her from a giraffe's-eye view, to a mountaintop, to an airplane, and finally high enough to trade high fives with a one-eyed, green alien who floats on her own swing among the stars. The pictures then regress to a vantage point that allows readers to review the stages of her upward climb all at once, then return to the playground for a hug and the final word: "Again!" The repetitive text is ideal for new readers, and the cartoon paintings, though spare, provide plenty of room for imagination. An excellent choice to share at storytime.—Gay Lynn Van Vleck, Henrico County Library, Glen Allen, VA
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From Booklist
*Starred Review* At the playground, a little girl sits on a swing while her father pushes her to greater and greater heights: the treetops, tall buildings, a mountaintop, the clouds, and outer space. At each level, someone looks at her in a friendly way as she calls out, Higher! Higher! Finally, she sees an alien child on a swing coming from the opposite direction. The dialogue on the next three double-page spreads reads, Hi! Hi! / High five! / Bye! Bye! Then the girl swings back down to earth, back to the park, back to her father’s arms. The story ends with one word: Again! Young children hearing the ending will be echoing Again! again and again because this elemental picture book is so satisfying. What starts out as a pleasant everyday experience quickly ramps up playfully and imaginatively, taking the child out of this world to another realm, but bringing her back so quickly and safely she can’t wait to venture out again. The acrylic paintings, in which heavy black outlines boldly define shapes and intensify the colors within them, pare down the scenes to focus attention on what is essential to the story. A wonderfully simple book that’s simply wonderful for reading aloud. Preschool. --Carolyn Phelan

About the Author
Leslie Patricelli is the creator of seven board books starring the adorable bald Baby, as well as the picture book THE BIRTHDAY BOX. She lives in Ketchum, Idaho.

Customer Reviews

Review from www.firrkids.com
Do you remember the excitement of being a kid on a swing set and screaming as loudly as you could to be sent higher? You were but a passenger on that crazy bus and the sky was the limit. For the little girl in this book, the sky is only the very beginning of her amazing journey upward.

Each push from her dad brings this little pig-tailed cutie to new dizzying heights. First she can see over the bushes, then over the rooftops. A few more pushes and she can see the tops of mountains, a passing airplane and how Earth appears from above. Just when you think she couldn't swing any higher, she meets a surprising new friend (no spoilers here!) before beginning her descent back to Dad.

This book is short on words, but not on emotion. The excitement is clearly evident on the little girl's face as she swings further into the sky. The first seven pages only reiterate the title "Higher! Higher!" and it's up to the reader to inject the enthusiasm. Given the illustrations of her swing progress, that's a pretty easy task.

I love that Leslie can take a everyday, mundane activity and bring to light the type of imaginative thinking that kids are capable of. The swing set might be restricted to her own backyard, but this little girl's imagination knows no bounds.

The author paragraph on the back of the dust jacket cracks me up: Leslie Patricelli lives in the mountain town of Ketchum, Idaho, with her musician husband, three inspiring children, one fat cat, one skinny cat, two fast rabbits, and a legion of well-trained sea monkeys. If that's a peep at Leslie Patricelli's sense of humor, sign me up for all her books. And I'm relieved to hear her sea-monkeys are well trained - that's the mark of a good author.

another excellent book by Patricelli
I bought this book because my daughter loves to swing high in the playground and I encourage her to do so. The story is about a little girl who wants to go higher than a giraffe, a building, and so forth. My daughter enjoys the book tremendously and even talks about it when we are at the playground...if a book has stimulated her mind, that's about all I can ask for.

a lovely antidote to fear
i very much enjoy reading this book aloud to 3 and 4 year olds because it presents an outer-space being that is no more unusual than an earth-kid on a swing. as such, it effectively dispels a not-uncommon notion among children that other beings are often "wierd" and scary.