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Voices in the Park Review
User Submitted Voices in the Park ReviewsSeptember 7, 2008 teaching tool I am a teacher and I use this book to teach point of view, voice, and character studies, as well as visual clues and class bias. It can be enjoyed as a visually stimulating illustrated book for younger children and as a enjoyable and interesting learning exercise for older children. I enjoy and value this book! August 18, 2008 10 Stars! As many teachers and parents have outlined in their reviews of Voices in the Park, Anthony Brown has handed us a remarkable gift. A colleague and I found a single copy of Voices in the Park at a local bookstore where we literally good-naturedly bickered over who would get to buy the book and use it first in her classroom (I won!). I can think of no better book to begin to introduce the concept of voice/point of view to students. I used this book as I began a unit on point of view with my students in Reader's Workshop (3rd grade) and was amazed at the symbolism and subtle nuances they discovered as they explored Voices in the Park for weeks. Even a few weeks into our exploration, my students were still shouting with joy every time they noticed how the illustrations accompanied a shift in mood within the text. Voices in the Park deserves far more stars than are available to give it here. It is a treasured part of my classroom collection. I highly recommend it. July 26, 2008 Another fabulous book from Anthony Browne Anthony Browne is the author and illustrator of more than 20 children's books such as Gorilla, Willy's Pictures, Into the Forest and Silly Billy. He has won numerous awards for his work including, the highest international honor for illustration the Hans Christian Anderson Award, the Kate Greenaway Medal twice and the Kurt Maschler Award three times. Browne has once again gone above and behind with his beautiful illustration that tell a story all on their own in Voices in the Park. Browne has written and illustrated another fabulous book involving monkeys. This intriguing story is told from the perspective of four monkey characters: a bossy woman, a sad man, a lonely boy, and a young girl. All the characters visit the same park and describe their visits completely different. Browne uses different styles of text to represent each character in the story. He also uses different color hues to help express the characters outlook on life. The illustrations have very intricate details, every time it is read a viewer notices something in the pictures that they didn't notice before. I highly recommend this book for all parents and teachers. Every time I read this book, teachers and children alike fall in love with the very detailed illustrations and interesting story line. The children all respond by pointing out the new images they see in each picture. It is a book that never gets old and gets the children thinking about how everyone can see the same things in a different light. July 10, 2008 If you are a teacher, Get it! I found this book when I was getting my teaching certification, and wanted to teach a 4th grade class on "Voice" or point of view. It was the basis for a great lesson! I think this could be appropriate for students in 3rd grade up to a basic high school English class. The same event (a trip to the park) is told by 4 distinctly different characters who all encounter each other in the park. So the story is told 4 times, once by each character. Everything from the word choice, font style, and beautiful illustrations relates the "voice" or point of view of each person. It is not only highly instructuve, it is a visual treat and intriguing. I have read the story many times, and each time the students see something that I missed. I love this book and share it with all my teacher friends and librarians. June 16, 2008 Great book!!! This is a great book, with very clever pictures throughout. It left my 3rd grade class with much to discuss. They asked to borrow this book for quite some time. I think the only way to improve this book would have been to make the characters human instead of animals. May 3, 2008 A must-read for children & adults Many mention the writing convention of "point of view" as a strong point of this book,and it is, but few reviewers mention the complex themes and issues that arise from this book. The illustrations are worth more than the cost of the book, as one reviewer put it. However, I found that the subtle ways in which this book invites the reader to ponder socio-economic class, child-parent relationships, financial struggle, and the innocence of childhood to be much more thought-provoking. I appreciate how the characters are not people--they are not of any certain ethnic background. I appreciate the detail to diction. Mostly, I appreciate the simplicity of the ending and what it says about how we all might view things when all is said and done at the end of the day. April 12, 2008 Perspective As a teacher, I love this book because it really makes the idea of perspective come to life especially for elementary students. Anthony Browne does a great job explaining what perspective is through his writing and his illustrations. March 18, 2008 Teacher's dream for teaching voice This book works on so many levels that I spent an entire week teaching voice to my second graders utilizing this book. We evaluated perspective in both the words and the illustrations. When you study the pictures, you gain a much greater insight to each "sub"-author's perspective, such as whether the trees are bare, or full of flowers, in their point of view. I could go on and on about this book, but it is something you need to experience or teach for yourself! November 21, 2007 It's all about perspective I love this book! I have given it to many friends with children as a gift but it would be a unique gift for anyone. You will see something different every time you read this book, I am still seeing new things and I have read this book to my daughter hundreds of times. The pictures are works of art and the messages are incredibly powerful. November 16, 2007 Great Book!! "Voices in the Park" by Anthony Brown is a short picture book chronicling four peoples experience in a park. The story's characters include a shy little boy and his overbearing, pretentious mother and an outgoing, active, young girl and her tired, blue-collar father; both families also posses a dog. Each character has a font type similar to their personality; an extraordinary way to capture the true feeling and concept of all the characters. Using differentiated texts, Brown follows these four through a day in their local park where they, along with their dogs, interact. Even with the cleaver writing, the illustrations are absolutely amazing, my favorite part. Done in watercolor, they beautifully portray the text and house wonderful surprises. I had a ton of fun perusing the pictures, searching for hidden images and contrasts. The way that Brown complimented his text with the paints is nothing short of brilliant. This children's book is a wonderful addition to any home or classroom. It will be an entertaining story to read for both you and your children. Along with amusement, "Voices in the Park" is a great way to teach kids different voices and empathy, pointing out and discussing differing points of view. For more Voices in the Park reviews click here.
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