Hot, Cold, Shy, Bold: Looking at Opposites

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian studies at
Concordia University, Japan Foundation Fellow 1991-92, and the author of
Margaret Laurence: The Long Journey Home and As Though Life Mattered:
Leo Kennedy’s Story.

This delightful photoessay for very young children has minimal text and
appealing closeups of children’s faces, with paired moods or concepts
side by side on opened pages. “A spring face” shows a child sitting
amidst a sea of trilliums, while “a fall face” is a laughing child
half-buried in golden fallen leaves. “A mom’s face” has a birthday
party setting; “a dad’s face” shows the exploring fingers of an
infant about to touch the father’s lips.

Grandparents are not forgotten. “An old face” is a grandmother,
with her youthful beauty still showing through the wrinkles; “a
bearded face” is a grandfather in a black beret; and “a bare face”
is a laughing infant clutching an adult hand. Young children will have
fun learning words and matching up opposites.

Pamela Harris is a Canadian photographer and writer. Her
black-and-white photos have been exhibited in solo and group exhibitions
at home and abroad. Hot, Cold, Shy, Bold is her first book for children
and her first book in color.

The human face is to me the most universal of icons, and Harris deploys
her faces well. Highly recommended.