CM Magazine: Walter Wick's Optical Tricks.

________________ CM . . . . Volume VI Number 4 . . . . October 15, 1999

Walter Wick's Optical Tricks.

Walter Wick.
New York, NY: Cartwheel Books (A division of Scholastic Inc.), 1998.
43 pp. cloth, $18.99.
ISBN 0-590-22227-9.

Subject Headings:
Optical illusions-Juvenile literature.
Visual perception.

Grades 3 and up / Ages 8 and up.
Review by Alison Mews.

**** /4

excerpt:

In mirrors, you can see around corners, objects are only illusion and everything is backward! In this mirror, one 4 is backward. Another 4 is frontward. Why? While you think about that puzzle, here's another: How many objects were used to make this picture? Count with care! The mirror's magic will deceive, even as it provides important clues.

This clever book, with its stunning photographs, will amaze children and adults alike. Walter Wick, the photographer of the I Spy books by Jean Marzollo, uses optical illusions to challenge visual perception, presenting puzzles that can't easily be explained by the eye alone. He strategically places colourful objects on carefully selected backgrounds, using mirrors and other sneaky techniques, to create impossible results, such as the three circular columns that appear to magically blend into two square columns. While Wick does play with shadows and angles to take his pictures, the "Afterword" states that he does not alter them photographically. Using straightforward language, he poses questions that require careful observation of the photos, and, although he gives hints, many of the illusions are only understandable when viewing the following page photo (where provided) or reading the simple explanation at the end of the book.
Wick has taken Escher's fantasy concepts into the theatre of reality, with actual photographs that will astound viewers' eyes and confound their minds. He proves that "you can't always believe what you see" and does indeed fulfill his mandate to "cultivate visual logic skill and to sharpen powers of observation." These carefully crafted photographs and accompanying questions will definitely entertain the brain!

Highly recommended.

Alison Mews is the Director of the Curriculum Materials Centre, Faculty of Education, Memorial University of Newfoundland in St. John's, NF.

To comment on this title or this review, send mail to cm@umanitoba.ca.

Published by
The Manitoba Library Association
ISSN 1201-9364

TABLE OF CONTENTS FOR THIS ISSUE - October 15, 1999.