Ins and Outs

Just a single word of text can be found on each of Perera’s 14 spreads, and, as the book’s title suggests, that word is either OUT or IN. And, while we may think that we know what those two words mean, but Perera’s illustrations may cause us to reconsider our possibly quickly arrived at definitions. The book is structured so that each pair of spreads, seven in total, visually address IN and OUT, with each different pairing largely featuring the same setting and characters, human or animal. For example, the opening spread carries the text IN and takes readers inside a bedroom where a boy is asleep in his bed. When readers turn to the next spread, they find that they are outside the boy’s bedroom and that the cat, which had been previously been on the boy’s bed, has slipped through the open window and is now outside. In a later spread, a little boy is seated in a child’s bike seat, with the two-wheeler bicycle being pedaled by his turban-wearing (presumably) father. A turn of the page finds the boy, out of his seat and on the ground, watching and listening as the air flows out of the nail/tack punctured bike tire. While most of the spreads have an obvious out or in, some of the later spreads may be more challenging for the book’s young audience. After an initial reading, the book’s adult and child readers can return to the spreads and look for more examples of the target words’ uses.