The Books

Window

by Jeannie Baker

One Potato Review

No text in this book, though plenty of texture: the landscapes in this story appear to collaged directly from nature – dirt and sticks and grass and things – but there’s nothing flat about this artist’s use of perspective. You can read this as an environmental advisory (“Our planet is changing before our eyes,” reads the author’s note) or simply a story about growing up. The world from this window is riveting for all of its transformation – the wilderness across the street becomes a treeless development, a McDonalds pops up - but so are the changes in a boy’s very own backyard, his projects and interests and behavior, until he himself is looking for somewhere else to lay down roots. Either way, this is a beautifully crafted account of some of the changes we think we might have anticipated, but didn’t.

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