This celebration of words and books also examines the importance of independent thought and creativity. The gray tones of the early part of the book give way to jellybean colors that jump on the page. Her orderly world has the feel of wooden toy soldiers and the five friends are wonderfully different and unique even before they invent the alphabet. It is Ellis’ art that brings this world to life. Who could imagine a world without jellybeans? Joyce keeps a light hand here and uses humor to show how dark the world is. The text here is very simple, allowing most of the storytelling to be done by the illustrations. Joyce creates a numeric and order-filled world reminiscent of Orwell’s 1984 in the first pages of the book. Morris Lessmore, which also started as an app. Once the letters formed words, real changes started and the entire world was flooded with color and yummy foods and possibilities.īased on the app, this is a second picture book from the creators of The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Color entered their dreary lives as the letters fell into place. And when they reached the final letter Z, things started to change. Then five friends started to wonder if there was something more than numbers, something different! So they started inventing and they slowly came up with letters. In a world where there are only numbers, everything is very orderly and neat. This is one Joyce title I recommend primarily for the gorgeous artwork, rather than the concept or story. While it may not have been the creator's intent - some have even made the counter-argument that the letters here are made out of the numbers, thus linking them - I do feel that he fell into the trap of thinking of numbers and letters as somehow oppositional. They might also want to consider that letters only go to make up our descriptions of things, and that the things themselves are actually created from chemicals, chemicals whose composition could be described equally well with numbers, as with letters. It might surprise some to know that once upon a time music and mathematics were taught together, and were considered interrelated subjects. All that said, I tend to agree with those online reviewers who have been a little dismayed at the cliched idea, expressed through the story here, that numbers (and by extension, mathematics) is boring, and letters (and by extension, language) is interesting and creative. The artwork, whether sepia-toned, as it is in the beginning, or vibrantly colorful, as it is at the end, is simply gorgeous, while the page orientation, which alternates between vertical and horizontal, is inventive. The Numberlys is a creative story that looks at both numbers and letters, and it is also a gorgeously illustrated book. Their efforts lead to the dawn of the alphabet, whose constituent letters spell so many things - from bright colors like yellow to pleasing foods like pizza - previously missing from the world. In a gray world organised solely by numbers, five Numberly friends decide to rebel and to create something new. I think he has some amazing work being done at the moment. Both kids were amazed and wanted to read it again. This is a work of art and even though it’s for a young audience, the kids loved this book. It’s such a lovely surprise and visually stunning. You really need to check this out and see for yourself. This is fantastic and amazing and I won’t say anymore about what is in it. Something I haven’t seen is that he has a long book that he pants the book on the side so you have to read the story top to bottom with very long pages so you can really see the scope of the buildings and world these Numberlys are in. A group of 5 friends decide there should be something new. It’s pretty dull and repetitious and full of only numbers and gruel. There is a society that is very mechanic and industrial. It’s an easy beginner book and it’s really playing with the basic building blocks. William Joyce has a vision that is so grand in scope. Exactly what our heroes didn't even know they were missing.Īnd when the letters entered the world, something truly wondrous began to happen: Pizza! Jelly beans! Color! Books!īased on the award-winning app, this is William Joyce and Moonbot's Metropolis-inspired homage to everyone who knows there is more to life than shades of black and gray. Twenty-six letters - and they were beautiful. But the five kept at it, and soon it was artful! One letter after another emerged, until there were twenty-six. So they broke out hard hats and welders, hammers and glue guns, and they started knocking some numbers together. But our five jaunty heroes weren't willing to accept that this was all there could be. Once upon a time there was no alphabet, only numbers Morris Lessmore comes an alphabet tale extraordinaire! From the team who brought you The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr.
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