cover image One Sunday Morning

One Sunday Morning

Yumi Heo. Scholastic, $15.95 (32pp) ISBN 978-0-531-30156-2

This companion to Heo's One Afternoon is another energized excursion; this time Minho goes with his father on a clamorous trip to New York City's Central Park. As in the previous volume, onomatopoetic words accompany a simple story, here recounting adventures on the subway, at the zoo and riding carousel horses. The train goes ""clickety clack,"" joggers' feet ""thumpa"" along the paths and the cotton candy machine spins its sugar confection with a soft hissing sound. Blending collage, pencil and oil paint (in neon-bright shades of mustard, orange and pink set off by softer baby blue, creamy tan and avocado), Heo creates an animated landcape with strong visual and auditory impact. As in the work of Maira Kalman and Sara Fanelli, Heo's illustrations combine whimsical perspectives, offbeat colors and highly stylized, ethnically mixed figures and amiable animals; like Fanelli, Heo also includes cryptic text fragments from other sources, such as music and fashion reviews. Yet Heo mixes in her own refreshing brand of eccentricity and serves up artwork that is festive and fun. The ending is a bit of a letdown, but readers will likely flip back to see the man making balloon animals or the top-hatted violin player treating park visitors to an afternoon concert. Ages 3-6. (Mar.)