Review of Window by Marion Arbona

A young girl is walking home from school in a big city. As she gazes up at window after window in the buildings on her route - all different shapes and sizes - she imagines the most fantastic goings-on behind each one, which we can see by opening the gatefold. A tropical jungle. A whale in a bathtub. Vampires playing badminton. Her fantasies know no bounds. Until, behind the very last window, we discover the girl back home in her own room, where the toys surrounding her look strangely familiar.

This highly original wordless picture book by Marion Arbona is a celebration of curiosity and imagination that is sure to inspire a sense of wonder in readers of all ages. There are thirteen windows to open in all, and each scene is intricately drawn in black and white and packed with level upon level of extraordinary details to explore: a gathering of gnomes, a deep-sea diver under water, a collection of masks, small cars that drive up the walls. In a special touch, each window contains a clue to what's behind it - for example, a plant on the ledge of the window that opens to the jungle, and a window shaped like a porthole that reveals the whale in a bathtub. With so much going on, this book will entice even the youngest children to pore over the pages for close reading, promoting observation skills and visual literacy.

Book Links

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**My thoughts**

Oh, these kinds of books are so much fun because they elicit so much imagination in the reader! It's a wordless book showing a young girl walking home from school. Along the way, she looks up at the different windows that she passes and imagines what may be going on inside.

The first time you read this with kids, as them to imagine what is in that window before they turn the page to see what the girl is thinking. Let them stretch their imagination wings first. And maybe they will be inspired to create their own drawings of what's behind each window, or even create their own windows. You could also go on a hunt around the neighborhood to see what kinds of windows you can find and what may be happening behind them. So much open-ended fun with a book like this!

Thank you to the publisher for fulfilling my review request via NetGalley. All thoughts and opinions are my own.