43 months - Mostly wordless with a letter at the beginning and end. The journey of a toad. Olivia thought the toad was very cute and as a result really enjoyed the story. ( )

Holly Hobbie is one of those real life people who has transcended her worldly existence into becoming a fictional icon. This began, of course, with her Holly Hobbbie drawings which in turn became Holly Hobbie and friends — characters whom filled my ever waking thought when I was in preschool through to about second grade. Now as an adult, I have rediscovered Holly Hobbie, the author and illustrator through her more recently published books such as Everything But the Horse (review coming) and Gem.

Gem is a wordless picture book that is introduced with a letter from "Gram" where she asks her grand-daughter to imagine a spring day adventure, even though it's still the middle of a harsh winter. What follows, all in pictures, is the adventure of a determined toad.

While Everything But the Horse is autobiographical and rather wordy, Gem is just Hobbie's delightful watercolors. They are so intricate and yet whimsical. They capture so perfectly those little moments in a garden. The toad's journey through the garden provides a tour through flower beds, puddles, tall grasses and all number of other scenery. ( )

Using the framing device of a letter exchange between grandmother and granddaughter - perhaps this was a real exchange between author/artist Holly Hobbie and her own granddaughter? - this mostly wordless picture-book follows the adventures of one little toad. Making his way through a number of dangerous situations - crossing a road, passing a pond - our batrachian hero eventually finds himself in a garden, where he is confronted with a young girl who wants to play with him. Fortunately, her better instincts prevail, and he is soon free again...

Like many of the better wordless picture-books available - titles like David Wiesner's Flotsam, or Sector 7, or Raymond Briggs' The Snowman - Holly Hobbie's Gem manages to tell a story with artwork alone, and to tell it well. The illustrations, done in watercolor and in pen and ink, are just lovely, capturing the fresh feeling of a spring day in the country, and communicating all the excitement of Gem's journey. While the opening and closing letters might be said to offer a written narrative, the story would work just as well without them. Highly recommended to all young would-be herpetologists, and to anyone looking for wordless picture-books. ( )

Lovely wordless story framed between letters exchanged between a grandmother and granddaughter. ( )

How does Holly Hobbie do it? She somehow is able to tell the story of a toad in a way that is both beautiful and fresh and charming without edging into cutesy or preciousness. This wordless book depicts the spring of toad, a spring full of adventures and follies and near-fatal experiences as well as a little romance. The toad is completely at home in the animal world, yet, when he turns to look at us, I can almost see a wink and a grin.

Charming.