Rooster's Off to See the World (The World of Eric Carle)
With his lush, gorgeous collages, Eric Carle hardly needs to write a  word to make his picture books appealing.Rooster's Off to See the World,  in fact, may have been more successful as a wordless book. Rooster wakes up one  morning and decides he wants to travel. Off he goes, picking up companions along  the way (two cats, three frogs, four turtles, etc.). When night falls, the  critters become cold and lonely and hungry, and, group by group, return home. It  seems the message here is, "there's no place like home"; reassuring for  toddlers, to be sure, but somehow a bit sad and disappointing, too. This small  board-book edition is crowded with Carle's trademark illustrations, stunning in  color and form--but also with wordy text and counting graphics in the upper  right corner of each spread. The adding and subtracting element is an attractive  and clever feature, but ultimately, it's a little too much. This said, children  and adults will probably be so mesmerized by Carle's colorful collages, the rest  won't matter. (Baby to preschool)--Emilie Coulter--This text refers to theBoard bookedition.