The Yellow Balloon

This is one of my all-time favorite gift books to friends with young children. At first it appears that it consists of a series of large, highly detailed paintings. On a closer look you can see a series of "stories": a man is arrested in the first panel, escapes from prison in the second, and appears in a striped prison uniform in all the rest of the pages. In the last, he returns home to the house from which he was arrested. Similarly, a man buys a rug in one picture, unfolds it in the next, and is found flying through much of the others until he meets up with... well, take a look!This book is great for pre-literate kids. You can treat it as a puzzle book, or as a story book. I like to use it as a jumping off point for storytelling: where did the giraffe truck come from? Why? Where is the blue car going to go next? How did it get on the island? Is the castle battle real or is it a movie? Can you follow the mountain trail to find out how to get to the bottom? There are many connecting "threads" that flow from page to page (but are not present on every page). Trying to discover them has given us hours of bedtime enjoyment.What I love about this book is its open-endedness. This is far more than a "Where's Waldo" book. Its an opportunity for creativity and discovery.

Such a great concept! Not a single word, but every picture speaks a thousand words about our world and how we are all connected, but still so different. I love the fact that the pictures let you paint the picture you want to see and discover the tiny details and stories behind them. Definitely recommend a glance for every child and adult in this day and age.

this book is my favorite book to watch with my one and a half year old daughter. everytime we turn the page she points at the yellow ballon and makes a funny sound. she can also show many other things like vulcano, plane ... many more. with this book you can teach your child the whole world and explain a lot of things about the earth. it's fun to watch for adults as well. GREAT JOB done by the artist!

This is definately one of the BEST books we own. My 2.5 year old toddler loves it. The detail of the illustration is truly amazing. It has I-spy elements, story lines from tales such as Little Red Riding Hood, Harry Potter so it is interactive and fits different levels of knowledge and kids favorites. I am looking to get other books from this author.

Such a gorgeous, beautiful book for your child. I even enjoyed every page of it myself. Beautiful!

The illustrations are amazing, the "story line" is intriguing, the whole concept is fabulous! My boys have enjoyed this book for YEARS!

Love Charlotte Dematons' books. Beautifully illustrated with extraordinary attention to detail. I could stare at some of the pages for hours looking for new details. My boys (2 and 6) both love this book.

Even for the farther concerned.... it's a feast for the eyes going through the book over and over again.

This is one of the loveliest picture books ever. My children and I enjoyed it so much when they were little. The very tattered version is still in our bookcase and they(they’re 12,14 and 19 now) sometimes still grab the book, you never get tired of it. I bought this one as a gift for our neighbours, who just became grandparents, hope they will enjoy it as much as we do.

Oh my goodness, this book has been such a hit! We initially took it out from the library and my children (2 and 4 years old) have loved it so much that we have since bought our own copy and bought a number of copies as Christmas gifts too! The pictures and detail are just great, particularly with the concept of needing to spot individuals and objects as they take their own journey across the pages. Just love it. And with the absence of words it means that you end up talking with your kids and getting them properly involved. Definitely worth 5 stars!

Beautiful book, a super globetrotting adventure following the balloon. Worth spending the extra for the hardback

Superb book. Me and my toddler enjoy finding new stories from the pictures in this book. Illustrations are amazing.

A lovely book, ideal for any language as there are no words. My daughter started looking at it when she was 4 years old but I can see her going back to it frequently as she is able to see more detail.