We love multimedia projects here at Punnybop, and were thrilled to get our hands on a copy of Yellow Umbrella, a subtle yet fascinating book from South Korea first published in the U.S. in 2002. The format is that of a picture book series of illustrations of a morning walk to school in the rain, seen from above; beginning with a single yellow umbrella emerging from a house and traveling down a gray path, each page brings another umbrella and a scene with new interest, and the umbrellas travel through and across busy city streets, wait at a rail crossing for a high-speed commuter train to pass, traipse through a public playground, and pass through a series of engaging scenes. The birds'-eye view was intrinsically fascinating to our four-year-old daughter, who needed some help interpreting some of the scenes but was eager to do so and continually curious to know where the umbrella-owners were headed.

The standout feature of this book is the inclusoin of a CD of short musical interpretations of the scenes, which is intended to be listened to while looking at the pictures. Plinking, high-octave piano keys provide the cheerful pitter-patter of rain through most scenes (although occasionally the rain appears to slow or even briefly stop), and other elements of scenes are subtly evoked. Brief silences between segments indicate when pages should be turned. We found that the length of each passage was just long enough that Z would become slightly antsy to turn the page, but could be re-engaged with a new question or observation about the one we were on; in this way it was an interesting, and pleasant, experiment in attention-extension that was fruitful and enjoyable to everyone. Language-oriented four-year-olds like ours have often reached the point where picture books are meant to be burned through and digested in summary form, particularly when they are unfamiliar and unobvious; for a subject like that taken on by Yellow Umbrella, and its unique perspective, the cheerful, evocative yet nuanced music sharpened our attention and set an inquisitive mood.

Details of these simple-at-first-glance scenes reward the extra attention; in a scene where the umbrellas cross a bridge over a stream, it took us a minute to notice the slight tilt of two umbrellas positioned to one side of the bridge, indicating that their owners had stopped moving and were peering into the water, where the raindrops sent ripples in small circles across its surface.

We highly recommend this book, which ships with a CD containing both the music to accompany the text and additional music by the composer. You can purchase it directly from Kane/Miller publishers or on Amazon.com. - Jeremiah