School Library Journal Review
K-Gr 4-A boy sits down to draw, only to notice that his blue pencil is missing. He wonders about its fate. Looking inside his empty pencil box, he sees a thin ray of light and goes through a crack and enters the Land of Lost Things. He travels through the Forest of Lost Blue Pencils and sees objects that have been gone for some time-a golden button, a green comb, etc.-until he is lost himself. He passes the Mountain of Lost Mittens, the Garden of Lost Umbrellas, and a Herd of Lost Socks. The story is circular and when the boy looks through the hole in a sock, he makes his way back, looking at the interior of his pencil box. He never finds his blue pencil, but he starts drawing with a brown one and wonders where it will take him. Bursztyn sustains her clever and imaginative text with playful and dreamlike illustrations. This beautiful bilingual book stands out for its artistic design and the balance between the author's verbal and visual message. Both the English and Spanish texts make for enjoyable read-alouds.-Freda Mosquera, Broward County Library, FL (c) Copyright 2011. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Publisher's Weekly Review
"Where do all the lost things go?" wonders a boy who has lost his blue pencil. Inside his pencil box, the boy finds an inky world of lost objects that can be explored and manipulated: "I tried to pull one pencil and a drop fell. It grew until the whole page turned blue." Cutting a hole in the page and falling through, he finds a myriad of other items (a frog, dice, a flip-flop) rendered in cut-paper collage, and wanders through the "Mountain of Lost Mittens" and the "Garden of Lost Umbrellas." Despite the book's abrupt ending, Bursztyn's whimsical illustrations offer a jubilant answer to a perennial question. Ages 4-8. (May) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Kirkus Review
A child's inquisitive search for a lost pencil takes him on an imaginary tour.Missing his favorite blue pencil, a little boy visualizes his way through "the land of lost things." On his quest he encounters not just his own but a "forest of lost blue pencils." Ripping a pencil from one of the trees releases a flood of dark blue color that spreads across the page. Wielding an eraser, the boy creates a newly white space to reveal a setting sun, green centipede and a butterfly of many colorsreally his lost golden button, comb and scissors. Soon, still wandering in this strange world of mislaid items, the boy finds his flashlight and holey red sock amid a flock of flying ones as he follows the path to "a mountain of mittens" and walks through "a garden of lost umbrellas." Still unable to find his original blue pencil, a brown one from his pencil box creates a new drawing of inspired adventure. The boy's inventive exploration is depicted with whimsical art in digital collage, opaque watercolors and markers. The art creates the necessary fanciful atmosphere for this tale, as the bilingual telling lacks verve.A mildly interesting way to introduce artistic expression to a preschool audience.(Picture book. 4-6)]] Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
