Look

Grejniec's newest book to appear in English looks as if it could have preceded the earlier two, Good Morning, Good Night and What Do You Like? Like those, Look features Grejniec's uniquely textured art--watercolors on Colombe paper greatly magnified to exaggerate the grain--but the magnification here is less daring and the effect less dramatic. The art has shrunk from full-spread to single page, again limiting its impact. The text, on the other hand, is more elaborate. A sick boy confined to bed has nothing to do but stare out his window at a patch of sidewalk and the apartment building across the street. ``How boring,'' he thinks. But almost at once his attention is caught by various streetside dramas: the boy's doctor leaves, a plane roars by (``See the shadow moving across the building?''), a tropical bird escapes his cage, and a circus--complete with a drum-playing monkey, an elephant and juggler--parades past. Meanwhile, a series of miniature domestic episodes unfolds, Rear Window -style, in the building across the street. Grejniec plants clever details in the art, leaving their discovery to the reader. For example, changing angles of shadows in each successive spread convey the passing time. If the volume as a whole is not as impressive as the previous titles, the stylized illustrations reward repeated examinations. Ages 5-8. (Sept.)