Say What‪?‬

PUBLISHERS WEEKLY MAY 2, 2011

"They say what they say/ in their own silly way,/ when they say what they say/ with their sounds every day." Chou's stylish artwork adds punch to DiTerlizzi's (the Adventure of Meno series) meditation on the real meaning of animal sounds. Chou's wide-eyed creatures live just like humans, using cellphones and raiding the fridge. "When a lion says roar,/ does he really mean more?" wonders DiTerlizzi, as a harassed-looking lion father brings another box of bath toys to his son (he's the one doing the roaring). "When a horse says neigh,/ does she really mean hay?" she asks, for which Chou supplies a spread of two horses dressed in cowboy outfits, making hay angels in the stubble on a sunny field. Deep blues and yellows make the pages glow, and almost every spread highlights a loving parent-child dynamic. DiTerlizzi's jazzy verse translations of animal sounds work well, though she backs away a bit at the end "What animals say, we really don't know." Chou, on the other hand, gives his imagination free rein. Ages 2 5.