Francisca Goldsmith from Booklist on Picture This

Picture This: The Near-Sighted Monkey Book.
Barry, Lynda (Author) , Barry, Lynda (Illustrator)
January 1, 2011


The creator of the weekly Ernie Pook’s Comeek follows up What It Is (2008) with this equally inspiring and inspired guide to freeing the creative potential within even the most tightly buttoned reader. Barry introduces the Near-Sighted Monkey, who joins her beloved character Marlys in leading readers through imagination-loosening exercises in doodling and coloring as well as snippets of sly storytelling and fact revealing. At times the Near Sighted Monkey channels Barry—presenting information about how the cartoonist approaches her own work—and also offers very monkey centric tidbits, such as when to talk about banana peels. Marlys fans will find plenty of satisfaction here, but adults and older teens who crave the opportunity to regain the pleasures they found in childhood creativity will also be thrilled with this volume. Although this book makes a good companion for What It Is, there is no need to be familiar with that title before cracking this one.

— Francisca Goldsmith