"This book began on an airplane trip, looking out the window with my two-year-old daughter. It opens in space, looking down at the Earth, and zooms in, one step at a time, to a ladybug in a child's backyard. There are no words. This book owes a debt to Ray and Charles Eames' Powers of Ten, though the scale in Looking Down doesn't extend to the same cosmological and molecular extremes." - Steve Jenkins

Teaching Connections: informational research projects, nonfiction text features

Website Resources: http://www.stevejenkinsbooks.com ( )

In this wordless picture book, readers first see Earth as the astronauts do, as a small ball in the black universe. As the point of view moves gradually closer, we can see continents and oceans, then the East Coast of the United States, then a town (an imaginary one), until, finally, we are looking through a boy's magnifying glass at a ladybug. In his remarkable and detailed cut-paper illustrations, the artist takes us on an amazing journey from outer space to a young boy's front yard.

Two exceptional wordless books that stimulate the reader in different ways are Steve Jenkins’ 1995 Looking Down and Barbara Lehman’s Museum Trip. The plot of Jenkins’ book is a journey—from beginning in outer space, with the moon in the foreground and planet Earth in the distance. With each turn of the page we zoom in closer to the destination---a boy looking at a ladybug through a magnifying glass in his East Coast suburban front yard. Looking Down evokes the 1968 Charles and Ray Eames film Powers of 10, which also depicted a journey (in film stills) from outer space to a person on the grass into his blood cell. Jenkins’ book, illustrated entirely in cut paper designs that resemble aerial photography, is newly accessible to a generation of students familiar with Google Earth technology. Wide appeal; includes K-8 and above. No special awards documented.

Unlike Looking Down, Barbara Lehman’s Museum Trip has a narrative that is open to some interpretation. Essentially, a schoolboy gets separated from his class with visiting an art museum. He becomes fascinated with a collection of mazes in a display case, imagines himself navigating through them, then returns to the present and rejoins his schoolmates as they leave the museum. Lehman illustrates in her customary clean, moderately detailed cartoon style. The viewer can supply the boy’s motivation, thoughts, and the meaning of what happens in the end—dream or fantasy. K-6 (although K and 1st graders would need to know what a maze depiction is and have familiarity with visiting an art museum). No special awards documented.

Jenkins, S. (1995). Looking down. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
Lehman, B. (2006). Museum trip. Boston, Mass: Houghton Mifflin. ( )

What if you were an alien on the moon and decided to have a look at the blue and green planet below? In this wordless book uniquely done with dye cut art, we focus down on to a boy who is having a look at the red and black bug far below him.
Classroom Use: Write the words you would put into this picture book to tell a story. ( )

This wordless picture book starts out on the moon looking down at the earth. As the pages turn, the view moves closer and closer until at the end the reader is looking directly at a close-up of a ladybug through a magnifying glass.

I was slightly bored by this book. I didn't really find myself wondering what the next turn of the page would bring.