"Higher! Higher!" a little brown-pigtailed girl calls to her grinning dad as he pushes her on a swing at the playground. Holding on to the steel chains on either side, higher and higher she flies with each push, above the head of a giraffe, above the tall building where children are playing on the roof, above the snow-capped mountaintops, and finally, above the Earth itself. The bright, flat acrylics, painted on a textured black canvas, are exhilarating. In space, she waves to the chimp blasting past her in a red rocket ship. "Hi!" she calls joyously to the one-eyed, green-skinned space kid on another swing, zooming toward her on the next page. They "high five," wave, and say, "Bye!" Children will examine that double-page spread to compare the girl's pink-and red striped dress and red mary janes with the alien's outfit. Back to Earth she descends, a huge smile on her face. When her delighted dad stops the swing and gives her a big hug, she has just one final word for him: "Again!"
THEMES: IMAGINATION. PARENT AND CHILD. PLAY. SPACE.
"Higher! Higher!" a little brown-pigtailed girl calls to her grinning dad as he pushes her on a swing at the playground. Holding on to the steel chains on either side, higher and higher she flies with each push, above the head of a giraffe, above the tall building where children are playing on the roof, above the snow-capped mountaintops, and finally, above the Earth itself. The bright, flat acrylics, painted on a textured black canvas, are exhilarating. In space, she waves to the chimp blasting past her in a red rocket ship. "Hi!" she calls joyously to the one-eyed, green-skinned space kid on another swing, zooming toward her on the next page. They "high five," wave, and say, "Bye!" Children will examine that double-page spread to compare the girl's pink-and red striped dress and red mary janes with the alien's outfit. Back to Earth she descends, a huge smile on her face. When her delighted dad stops the swing and gives her a big hug, she has just one final word for him: "Again!"
It's so affirming to watch the bonding of the dad and his child while he makes possible her adventure with the wider world. Toddlers will repeat each title refrain and word with you, while emergent readers will easily handle the six-word text. Recite Robert Louis Stevenson's famous poem, "The Swing," first published in 1885 and included in his classic poetry book, A Child's Garden of Verses, easily found online or in a good collection of poetry, if you don't have a copy of the book at hand. Don't recall it? Here it is:
The Swing
by Robert Louis Stevenson, 1885
How do you like to go up in a swing,
Up in the air so blue?
Oh, I do think it the pleasantest thing
Ever a child can do!
Up in the air and over the wall,
Till I can see so wide,
Rivers and trees and cattle and all
Over the countryside-
Till I look down on the garden green,
Down on the roof so brown-
Up in the air I go flying again,
Up in the air and down!
THEMES: IMAGINATION. PARENT AND CHILD. PLAY. SPACE.
