"Disagreement" is an evocative book-without-words that would be excellent for middle and upper grade students. As a tool to spark discussion, it could help young people express and understand feelings brought on by modern day polemics.

***SPOILERS HIDDEN***

Disagreement by Nani Brunini is a wordless picture book that shows what happens when a heated disagreement spins out of control. It opens with two people walking outside having a discussion that leads to an argument. In no time, this argument attracts the attention of an increasing number of people, who join in until what started as a small clash becomes a large public feud. Brunini illustrated this disagreement as a cloud of blue and red, its colors colliding onto each other in chaotic, aggressive-looking scribbles and slashes. This cloud grows to mammoth proportions and soon takes on a life of its own when it transforms into a monster that chases the people arguing. In the aftermath, one person turns peacemaker by giving a can’t-we-all-just-get-along speech. He then fashions a horse out of thin air and invites the others to follow him on a calm path toward understanding. In the end, everyone in harmony climbs into the basket of a hot-air balloon and floats away together. But unfortunately, some people just can't get along, ever or very easily: Upon disembarkment, the couple who started the argument in the first place start up all over again, to the exasperation of the peacemaker.Disagreement is understandable but doesn’t hold the reader’s hand. The story relies on smaller details and symbolism, making older readers its ideal audience.

I had some doubt this book would be anything special. Although I like wordless picture books, not all succeed, and this one seems really short at only 36 pages. Drawings are simple and the color palette limited. However, this is something special. Disagreement is intelligent, and its intelligence reveals itself slowly. Brunini’s artistic style is charming and could be at home in The New Yorker. There’s careful deliberation behind her illustrations, and she got across everything she meant to--right down to the subject of the argument. Shown in blue and red, escalating into potentially dangerous territory with groups of people on both sides, the argument has to concern politics. That the colors never blend to become purple is a quieter detail but a meaningful one. She also used proportion with intention, depicting characters as dwarfed by the cloud, which consumes most of the pages it's featured on. Fantastical parts add whimsy, and the ending is delightful and a little amusing.

Lots of wordless picture books could have words and be just as good, or even better, but Disagreement needed to be wordless because it’s a puzzle as much as it is a story. It’s like a piece of art, dependent on interpretation–and it’s better for it. This one is easy to like. ( )

I found this to be a very interesting "read." I put read in quotes here as there are no words in the book, just illustrations that tell the story.

Firstly, I really enjoy the illustrations and think that they were very well done.

I found it very clear that the message of this book was that a small disagreement can quickly spiral out of control, but that it only takes one person to mediate a situation and guide everyone to a conclusion and get them to work together to find a solution. Personally, I would recommend this to teachers in elementary schools. I think it would be fun for kids to come up with a story to go along with the illustrations. ( )

I'm not sure how to review this one! It is all done in illustration and you do get the gist of what is happening but without the description on the website I'm not sure you'd fully understand the entirety of it. I understood the argument that grew out of control, the red and blue reflecting current politics, but you lost me after they are swallowed by the argument monster. Maybe a little too abstract without explanation?

Brunini’s deceptively simple book, Disagreement, benefits from multiple readings - a paradoxical thing, since it has no words to it, other than its title. Yet, its clearly drawn characters and their abstractly depicted ideas - and arguments - are able to convey the struggle for meaning, and the ways out of disagreements when such confrontations turn to be all engulfing.

A repeat viewing of the book provides the additional benefit of latching on details unseen on previous instances, discovering and enjoying the company of individual characters.