Du Iz Tak? (E. B. White Read-Aloud Award. Picture Books)

PreS-Gr 3—Using intricate illustrations supported by spare dialogue in an invented language, Ellis elegantly weaves the tale of several square feet of ground in the insect world as the seasons pass. Multiple story lines intersect: a mysterious plant bursting from the soil, the rise and fall of a spectacular fort, and a caterpillar’s quiet then triumphant metamorphosis into a shimmering moth. The illustrations demand to be pored over, with exquisite attention to detail, from the extravagantly dressed anthropomorphized insects in top hats to the decor of Icky the pill bug’s tree-stump home. Much of the book’s action occurs on the lower halves of the pages, the ample white space emphasizing the small world of the critters. As the flower and fort grow together and larger animals come into play, the illustrations take up more vertical space until the climax, when the plant blooms and is revealed to be a “gladenboot” (flower) and all of the insects come out to rejoice. As the weather cools, readers are treated to a delightful nighttime spread of the moth finally emerging and flying to a cricket’s tune as the decayed flower’s seeds dance all around. Though this could nearly work as a wordless book, the invented, sometimes alienlike language seemingly contains real syntax and offers readers the opportunity to puzzle over the meanings of the words and tell the story using their own interpretations. VERDICT This is a title that calls for multiple readings, as there’s something new to be discovered each time. Perfect for one-on-one or small group sharing.—Clara Hendricks, Cambridge Public Library, MA

Carson Ellis has created an incredible microcosm with her usual grace and inventiveness…I used to be completely captivated by Ellis’s wonderful creatures, their charming little world and their droll language.
—The New York Times Book Review

Ellis (Home, 2015) elevates gibberish to an art form with her brilliant account of a few bugs, who discover a green shoot sprouting from the ground…Readers and pre-readers alike will find myriad visual cues in Ellis’ splendid folk-style, gouache-and-ink illustrations that will allow them to draw meaning from the nonsensical dialogue, as well as observe the subtle changing of the seasons. The entire story unfolds on the same small stretch of ground, where each new detail is integral to the scene at hand. Effortlessly working on many levels, Ellis’ newest is outstanding.
—Booklist (starred review)

Viewers follow the unfurling of an exotic woodland plant through the actions and invented language of beautifully coiffed and clothed insects…This is certain to ignite readers’ interest and imaginings regarding their natural surroundings. Following the minute changes as the pages turn is to watch growth, transformation, death, and rebirth presented as enthralling spectacle.
—Kirkus Reviews (starred review)

In a wordless coda of successive double-page spreads we are comforted by the cycle of the seasons. By the final words, “Du iz tak?” we are fluent speakers of Bug. Completely scrivadelly, this is a tour de force of original storytelling.
—Horn Book (starred review)

Ellis’s (Home) bewitching creation stars a full of life company of insects who speak a language unrelated to English, and working out what they are saying is likely one of the story’s delights…Very gently, Ellis suggests that humans have no idea what wonders are unfolding at their feet—and that what takes place in the lives of insects is not so different from their own. Has there ever been anything quite love it? Ma nazoot.
—Publishers Weekly (starred review)

It’s a genuinely charming story with brain-tickling interest from the dialogue, and it earns a satisfying edge from the silent and decisive victory over the spider. Ellis is best known as an illustrator, and her oversized gouache and ink spreads deftly balance playfulness and precision, intricacy and airy background…Readers-aloud will want a practice run to ensure their intonation carries the meaning of the words, but it is going to all make perfect and pleasing sense to imaginative listeners.
—Bulletin of the Center for Children’s Books (starred review)

Using intricate illustrations supported by spare dialogue in an invented language, Ellis elegantly weaves the tale of several square feet of ground in the insect world as the seasons pass…This is a title that calls for multiple readings, as there’s something new to be discovered each time. Perfect for one-on-one or small group sharing.
—School Library Journal

High drama ensues in the clean, odd, beautiful pages ahead. A marvel.
—Shelf Awareness for Readers

Ellis’ precise and detailed illustrations of bespectacled bugs and an elaborate fort utterly beguile…It would be easy to make such a story clever for the sake of being clever, but instead Ellis has created one of the vital smartest, most original and most endearing picture books of this year. Du iz tak? It’s a keeper is what it is.
—BookPage

Sophisticated, curious, well-dressed bugs watch as a plant shoot grows and blossoms into a magnificent flower. Their miniature world is alluringly well-realized and includes an invented language, which young readers delight in decoding.
—The Boston Globe

There’s an elusive yet distinctly joyful quality to Carson Ellis’s picture book that feels like suspended glee, or a laugh caught halfway in the throat. As in her 2015 debut, “Home,” the gouache and ink illustrations in “Du Iz Tak?” are chic and subtly witty. But this time Ms. Carson matches them with dialogue in the enchanting foreign language of the elegantly dressed beetles and insects that live to tell the tale a small, eventful patch of earth.
—The Wall Street Journal

Written entirely in the playful and amusing language of bugs, it isn’t necessary to speak fluent moth or ladybug to enjoy the growth and metamorphoses creatively combined through Carson Ellis’s delightful words and fanciful illustrations as the seasons subtly transform.
—ForeWord Reviews

With minimal text and crisp images, Ellis’s book is deceptively simple, but don’t be fooled; this whimsical story requires a close reading to truly absorb all its subtle delights.
—Globe and Mail

Here’s a bright, refined fantasy world to be lost in, and one that has its dark, seasonal drama to boot. Good for kids who like to believe miniature worlds.
—Toronto Star

A bold retro color palette and lots of white space allow a big beautiful story plenty of room to breathe.
—Chicago Tribune

A discerning eye and ear are prerequisites for decoding this elegantly esoteric concoction, and they are outcomes, too.
—San Francisco Chronicle