Synopses & Reviews
The friends from the author's Caldecott Honor Book Yo! Yes? meet again telephonically. We hope, when the phone rings, that a friend will be calling, someone who "talks our language." In Chris Raschka's picture books, language is always important and usually just the top layer of the story. Beneath what is said, other dramas are taking place. Such is the case with Ring! Yo? for, until the end, when both friends are shown, young listeners will have the chance to fill in for themselves half of the phone conversation. Of course, the body language of the boy we see is eloquent. We hear what he's hearing and it isn't all happy. His friend is peeved, feels rejected. And so this afternoon he'll be playing with someone else. That's harsh news our boy is so sunk, he literally falls off the page but it's not the end of the story. No, the author-artist goes somewhere surprising from there. Children and inventive grown-ups will eagerly follow.
Review
The appeal of this title lies in the humor and mini-suspense: the comic responses of the character and his apparent dismay will attract readers curious as to what the conversation is actually about. (The Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books)
Review
This book calls out for interaction... it also offers a commentary on fun and friendship, and a bit of a puzzle structured like ordinary life, where we often hear only part of what's happening. (Chicago Tribune)
Review
...almost too much fun... with the minimalist text and vigorous images of the fidgety little boy reacting in myriad ways, Raschka opens wide the door to the imagination. (Atlanta Journal Constitution)
Review
The illustrations burst with the force of this little watercolor character's emotions, and your heart goes out to him. (Newsday)
Review
The pastel-and-watercolor illustrations... wonderfully capture a wide range of emotions... sure to lead to lively classroom and storyhour discussions and give primary grade school teachers some good ideas for creative-writing projects. (School Library Journal)
Review
Hooray! The two famous friends from Raschka's Caldecott Medal Honor Title Yo! Yes? return in another delightful monosyllabic, energy-charged story. This one begins with the ring of a phone and continues with the one-sided conversation that ensues. Children won't be able to resist using their imaginations to supply the other side. Raschka's art is as dynamic as ever: the full-page pictures of the boy on the phone are positively operatic in their expressions and range of emotions. One moment the boy is ebullient, exclaiming "Hey!" as he recognizes his friend's voice. Then he's thoughtful, then startled ("What?"), defiant ("So What?") and even despairing: "Never?" he asks, as he sinks lower and lower on the page, finally disappearing altogether. Raschka obligingly supplies one possible scenario to explain what's going on. "Was it this?" he asks, and then, in a three-page coda, suggests what the other side of the conversation might have been. But friendships--and phone conversations--are never cut and dried, as Raschka acknowledges in a tantalizing final line that invites alternative possibilities, re-readings and re-imagingings. (Booklist, Starred Review, March 15, 2000 )
Review
Proving once again that Raschka dances to a different drummer, this engaging picture book bounds off in a wholly original direction and features a return engagement by the two friends from Yo! Yes? Here, readers find themselves privy to half of a conversation as, Hollywood-style, they watch one boy respond to what is being said on the other end of the conversation. The rest is left to the imagination, although Raschka does step in at the end to offer one possible scenario. A master of minimalism, he packs a punch with just a few chosen images and words ("Hey! Uh huh. No. You?"). His artwork is all line and suggestion, and despite the static "stage set" on which the action takes place, his choreography more than compensates. With a quick scratch of pastels and a swipe of watercolor, the boy fidgets and grimaces, his face erupting in rage, collapsing in sadness and lighting up with joy as he chats with his friend ("What? You are? When?"). The clever conceit engages the audience; once readers understand the premise, there's a lot of latitude for creativity as they imagine exactly what is happening on the other end of the line. (Publishers Weekly, Starred Review, January 31, 2000)
Review
Raschka has his own Morse code of drawing... a crooked, curved, or curly pastel line leaps with energy, conveying outrage, disappointment, or jump-for-joy gladness... with nothing more than a few simple strokes or a dash of color... (Kirkus Reviews, Starred Review, March 1, 2000)
Review
Very amusing, and could make a good game. (New York Times)
Synopsis
In a conversation on the telephone, two friends, one black and one white, have a disagreement and then make up. Full-color illustrations.
About the Author
Chris Raschka was born in Huntington, Pennsylvania on March 6th, 1959. He grew up speaking both English and German with his parents, his brother Paul and his sister Renate. Writer, artist and musician, Chris Raschka combines his three great passions to create original and daring picture books for young children. Chris Raschka's picture books include Yo! Yes?, a Caldecott Honor Book in 1994, Charlie Parker Played Be Bop; Mysterious Thelonious, a New York Times Best Illustrated Book; Can't Sleep; The Blushful Hippopotamus; Elizabeth Imagined an Iceberg; Arlene Sardine; and a version of the Shaker hymn Simple Gifts. He has also illustrated the latest 'found' Margaret Wise Brown title Another Important Book, and Happy to Be Nappy a first children's book for bell hooks. His latest book for DK Ink is Like Likes Like which The New York Times describes as having "Exuberant illustrations [which] enlarge a simple but eloquent text". Chris lives in New York City with his wife and their young son.