Look! Look!

Published April 2, 2024

Groundwood Books. Illustrated by Uma Krishnaswamy

Summary

A girl in India discovers an ancient step well in this companion book to the creators’ much-loved Out of the Way! Out of the Way!

When a girl discovers a slab of stone on a weedy patch of land, she calls to her friends, “Look! Look!” The children clear away the weeds and garbage and find more stones. They call their families to come and see and begin to dig around the stones. Word travels to villages nearby, and more and more people join in until the digging reveals steps that lead down to an ancient well. At the bottom, there’s even a little water! When the rains come, they cause an underground spring to flow once again, filling the ancient well with fresh, clean water and greening the surrounding fields.

Lyrical writing and lively, richly colored art come together once again in this compelling story that embraces community, nature, and the passage of time. Includes an author’s note about ancient step wells and their potential to help handle floods and provide water.

Reviews

The fast-moving and poetic text, punctuated with the refrain “Look! Look!” as characters make unexpected discoveries, perfectly accompanies the detailed and vibrant acrylic, poster color, and watercolor illustrations, which make effective use of color, shading, and white space.

A gorgeous and inspiring imagining of a collective response to climate change. Kirkus Reviews (starred)

Krishnaswami’s spare, lyrical text is complemented by Krishnaswamy’s bright, decorative palette of vibrant yellows, greens and earthy ochres. White space is used especially effectively. In one spread, plump gray rain clouds float above a patchwork of fields, while in others, small spot art vignettes provide lots of details to look at and discuss. Deborah Hopkinson, for BookPage (starred)