Up & Down
Up & Down
Up & Down
Up & Down

Up & Down

Etienne Delessert (Author & Illustrator)

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Familiar phrases and unusual characters accompany a boy as he ascends and descends in an elevator.

Ages 5 – 8

Fiction, 16 pages, 2021

ISBN 978-1-56846-380-3

Reviews

The title may create an expectation that this is a sort of up-and-down book of opposites. Dismiss that idea entirely. Some things seem to go up and not come down until the very end, and the brevity of this book may raise more questions than it answers. This book would have better served its beautiful illustrations if the story were longer, or more detailed and connected with the pictures. It can be a study in good illustration, and perhaps a lesson on imagination, but it is not a library must have. It is important for children and teachers to discuss imagination, but this book does not seem to achieve this goal. This author-illustrator who is a wonderful artist and and could perhaps write a longer book that would serve its illustrations well.

Children's Literature, September 2021

Reviews

The title may create an expectation that this is a sort of up-and-down book of opposites. Dismiss that idea entirely. Some things seem to go up and not come down until the very end, and the brevity of this book may raise more questions than it answers. This book would have better served its beautiful illustrations if the story were longer, or more detailed and connected with the pictures. It can be a study in good illustration, and perhaps a lesson on imagination, but it is not a library must have. It is important for children and teachers to discuss imagination, but this book does not seem to achieve this goal. This author-illustrator who is a wonderful artist and and could perhaps write a longer book that would serve its illustrations well.

–Polina Mann, Children's Literature, 09/01/2021

A kid takes a unique elevator ride. A young child presses an elevator button to summon it. Accompanied by some unusual-looking animals, the kid ascends. The text is almost entirely composed of idiomatic expressions that include the word up (“What’s up?” “Fired up!” “Jazzed up!” etc.). Beginning on the ground floor, the kid encounters a different expression (and animal companions) on each floor, depicted in a quirky, imaginative fashion. If the point is to help readers clearly understand what the expressions mean, it doesn’t generally succeed. Wrapped up is illustrated with a picture of the kid paddling a canoe, joined by a rabbit and a bird, for instance. Some interpretations fare very slightly better: What’s up? features multiple rabbits carefully listening to their cellphones; Jazzed up! shows the kid, a trio of mice, and three extremely large rats playing music; Spruced up! depicts the kid painting white birds with bright colors. As the elevator reaches the sixth floor, nighttime has fallen, and the kid goes “back down,” the only departure from phrases with up. Since none of the up expressions connote actual levitation, the elevator conceit feels irrelevant; a playground swing or seesaw might have worked as well (or poorly) to represent up-and-down movement. Readers will likely have no better grasp of the expressions after perusing this book than before. However, the charmingly surreal and brightly colored illustrations may garner attention. The kid presents White. Pass this up or turn it down, as you will.

Kirkus

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