Squiggle by Carole Lexa Schaefer, Pierr Morgan (Illustrator)

From the Publisher

What magic can be found in a piece of string?  The magic of a million incarnations--when the string is found by an imaginative little girl who spies it on the sidewalk.  Slither, slish--it could be the dance of a scaly dragon.  Or, push-a-pat--the top of the Great Wall of China.  Unique illustrations, inspired by Asian brush-stroke paintings, transform the simple thread into fireworks, thunderclouds, and even the moon.  

Publishers Weekly

This call to creativity shows that rope need not serve a purely functional purpose. Walking with her classmates on a trip to the park, a dark-haired girl finds a flexible length of red cord and begins to shape it into outlines on the sidewalk. Her designs have a Chinese theme: she creates a festival dragon's curving spine, a tightrope for an acrobat who carries a bamboo umbrella, and the angular edge of the Great Wall. She then shows her inventions to her classmates, who had been moving "in a bunched-up, slow, tight, straight line"; when they take hold of the rope, their procession loosens into a "squiggle." Schaefer (In the Children's Garden) adds an aural dimension to the girl's visual game, imagining "Crack crickle hiss-the sky trail of popping fireworks" and "Ripple shhh-the circle of a deep still pool." Morgan (The Nine Days Wonder) illustrates with calligraphic strokes of marker and gouache on speckly, paper-bag-brown stock. With a few deliberate lines, minimal color and plenty of negative space, he suggests the blank openness onto which the girl projects her ideas. Together, Schaefer and Morgan encourage readers to see that mundane objects hold playful possibilities. Ages 3-7. (Dec.)

Publishers Weekly

A schoolgirl's game with a rope is the subject of this playful story, winningly illustrated in fluid, calligraphic strokes. Ages 5-8. (June) Copyright 1999 Cahners Business Information.

Children's Literature

On a walk to the park with her class, a little girl discovers a piece of red string on the ground. She picks it up and with her vivid imagination, she transforms it into a dragon's tail, an acrobat, fireworks, a storm cloud, ripples of water and many other things. The illustrator, Morgan, has drawn the characters with a black marker in a loose and sketchy style. Her strong black line is so appropriate to the linear nature of the girl's own piece of string. The artwork has been done on a flecked oatmeal paper which gives a nice tactile quality to the pages.

School Library Journal

PreS-Gr 1-When a group of young children set off with their teacher on an orderly walk through the park, the very last little girl spies a "squiggle" on the ground and picks it up. As she twirls, twists, and turns the long red ribbon, she imagines it to be a dragon, a thundercloud, a "full fat moon," and much more. She hastily rejoins the group and, much to their delight, demonstrates her treasure's potential. Then the youngsters continue the walk, not as a "bunched-up, slow, tight, straight line," but in exuberant squiggle-style, instead. A distinctly Asian look is conveyed through the vertical calligraphy of the title on the cover and through the clothing and facial expressions of the chunky children in the gouache-and-marker illustrations. The speckled brown-paper backgrounds add texture and a sense of solidity as does the visual weight of the children. In contrast, the imaginative scenes conjured up by the red squiggle are lighter in line and brighter in coloration. The very easy text effectively uses onomatopoeia to capture the crackle of fireworks and the stillness of a deep pool; its placement and typeface enhance the design of every page. This paean to flights of fancy is, at once, a simple picture book and a study in subtle contrasts. Perfect for preschool listeners, it presents one of the universal joys of childhood in an accessible and charming fashion.-Carol Ann Wilson, Westfield Memorial Library, NJ

Kirkus Reviews

Splendid, vibrant illustrations exhibiting a Chinese influence dance through this tribute to the imagination of one small girl.

The nameless narrator, on her way to the park with her classmates and teacher, spies a piece of red rope on the ground. She waves this "squiggle" and lo! it's a dragon ("slither slish"), a tightrope ("snap, tah-dah"), a full moon ("ah-whoosh"), a crenellated wall ("push-a-pat"). She catches up to her classmates and illustrates all of the permutations of the squiggle for them, and they cheer her ("hoorayee!"). The gouache-and-color-marker pictures make this tale: They fairly vibrate with energy against the oatmeal-textured paper. The lines of the children's bodies are nervous and alive; the many changes Morgan visits upon the squiggle range from a spectacularly ornate dragon to a still, soothing moon. Schaefer (In the Children's Garden, 1994, etc.) strives a bit too hard in the sound effects, but for the right performer, this could be a fabulous read-aloud.

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